Spawn of the Titans
by Doodlebug QT
Summary: When Nightwing and Starfire's baby girl goes missing, many long years pass without a trace of her to be found anywhere. In the meantime, Slade is readying his new aprentice for the day when she can destroy the parents he claimed abandoned her as an infant. But what happens when his plans go ary? How will the archnemisis handle the situation to reclaim the aprentice he never got?
1. Prologue Part 1 Birth

**There are several things I would like to say:**

**There are so many versions of Robin and Teen Titans and Batman and all that, so it's really hard to keep up with all the versions that they make. It's kind of really frustrating actually. I mean you've got the cartoon versions and then the comic book versions and then the movie versions and then the video game versions. I'm up to speed with most of the cartoons and movies cuz I can usually watch them on YouTube or or I've already got the seasons of them, and as far as the comic books, I've developed a habit of reading what is known off of the web and purchasing various issues of Batman, Death Stroke, Catwoman and others that may be necessary for reference for the story. And as far as the games, I really don't know didily about that at all cuz the only games I play are board games and UNO. So if I miss something, or I forget to add an important detail or just plain screw stuff up, please don't hate me.**

**This is sort of a spinoff sequel to Rena Redhead's stories "What" and "Custody". Ever read those stories? If not you should because they are awesome and my life got infinitely better by reading them. It's not really necessary to read them, but things make a little more sense if you do. All I'm going to tell you is that this story takes place five years after Custody and most of the main characters belong to DC Comics, but there are a few that are mine.**

**In case you didn't know already, I don't own DC comics or Batman, Nightwing, Deathstroke the Terminator, Justice League, or Teen Titans. It's sad but what can you do really. **

**So, after more than a year of hard work, I've finally decided to post this story. I've been so self-conscious about not finishing it like I do with most of my stories that I was so determined to make sure I had a good portion of it done prior to officially posting it. I also worried about how it would turn out, that I wanted to make sure I had edited this tale to perfection. I know it will hardly be perfect to some of you, but I'm still attempting to narrate this story to the absolute best of my ability. Please keep in mind that I've been working on this for a very long time and my feelings are a little delicate towards it. If you review, please be courteous. This story is my baby so there's no need to be mean. If you don't like it, you are more than welcome to exit out and locate a better fanfic by a more skilled writer. If you do like it, your encouragement is appreciated and may even be needed to continue.**

**I love all my reviewers and hope you found my story entertaining.**

**With that said and done, allow me to present:**

* * *

**Spawn of the Titans  
Part 1**

**Birth**

**Prologue**

Nightwing leapt through the air, battling away at the green monster. He growled inwardly at the annoyance of the situation. He didn't have time for this nonsense. He threw a bird-arrang at it, impatiently deciding to speed things along here. As it was distracted by the oncoming missile, Nightwing took the opportunity to swing a sparking numb chuck in its face. He turned the voltage on high and watched as the monster fell to the ground with a furious roar, sparking in electricity.

Silence crept through the streets and the onlookers slowly emerged when it was safe to do so. The battle was over and everyone knew it.

A green man stepped into the light; he'd been knocked unconscious previously but became suddenly alert when the silence evolved.

"Nightwing." He shouted over. Then looking at the downed monster and the hero standing triumphantly over it, and he gawked. "Dude, you did it by yourself! Guess you didn't really need me, considering how much good I was."

"It's fine, Beast Man." Nighwing said as he hit a button on his belt. The roar of a motorcycle grew closer and when it was within reach he leapt on. "Can you take care of that?" He gestured to the unconscious thing. "I've got to get going."

Beast Man nodded as sirens were heard growing closer. "Go, man. I can handle the rest… since you handled the hard part." He added as Nightwing sped off before he finished.

He thought of his friend's words. Battling monsters and crooks daily was no longer hard for him. No. It wasn't even that nerve wracking any more. The thought that in a few hours, maybe even a few minutes, he would become a father—now that was nerve wracking.

He kicked the gas on his bike and sped down the road even faster than his fastest speed.

At last, the hospital came into view, where somewhere in the walls of that building his wife was about to give birth to his new son or daughter. He parked in the ally and in a flash, changed out of his hero uniform into civilian clothes. In an instant, after he'd finished tying off his long jet black hair in a leather strap, his transformation from Nightwing to Dick Grayson was complete.

He ran the rest of the way, bursting through the doors and stopping only to ask what room his wife was in. He was like a streak of color as he ran the entire way to the Maternity ward on the fifth floor.

"Kory!" He cried when he reached her room. He saw his wife, wet with sweat and a joyous smile on her face. "I missed the delivery." He realized. His gut hit the floor. He had wanted to be there for her when their child came. The thought that he'd missed it, discouraged him. Yet seeing his wife's jubilant smile softened his worries.

"Not by much," She said holding her hand out to him, a gesture to come closer. He complied and held her hand in his. It was wet with the sweat of labor, as was her brow, but he could tell from her eyes and her jubilant expression that she was happy.

A nurse suddenly came up to him and held out a little white bundle, putting it gently in his arms. "Say hello to your daughter." She announced proudly.

Dick Grayson stared at the infant, captured in awe. He marveled in how tiny and light she felt in his muscled arms. He held her as if she was the most precious thing in the world, like the smallest wrong move could cause her to shatter in his hands. He held her with more care than he'd ever had for anything in his life.

Still trapped in the pure amazement of the situation, he studied her. She was red, the way many babies are when they are newborns, and a small tuff of raven black hair covered her head. Her eyes opened to look at him. They were shaped gorgeously like her mother's but were the color of her father's; the color of a deep twilight blue.

She stared at him for a moment before her face split into a happy smile and she gurgled with glee up at him, as if she knew this was her father. Dick felt his heart melt with her smile.

Kory sat up and looked at the infant and father, drinking up the heartwarming moment. She'd never seen this man so captured before. Dick met eyes with her and leaned down, offering the baby to his wife.

She took her in her arms and smiled as he did. "She is as precious as a plunki-mimpa."

Dick smiled, neglecting to ask what a plunti—whatever even was. So instead he responded with, "We make a pretty good looking kid, don't we, Star?" He whispered, sitting on the bed beside her.

"Most indeed." She announced, using her own foreign version of English. "She is very the looking good."

Her way with words only made him grin harder. He grinned till it began to hurt… and then he couldn't help but keep grinning.

"So what are we going to name her?" He asked in her ear.

Kory, also known as Starfire, looked up at him. "I would like to name her something native to my home planet, but I would also like to name her something native to your home planet too. She is of both worlds after all. On Tameran I had thought that if it were a boy we would name him And'e translated to Firewing. If it had been a girl it would be Mar'i which means Nightstar."

It was a combination of their own names as Nightwing and Starfire. Dick nodded at the thought. "I suppose Mar'i or Nightstar it is then. We still need a middle name."

"I am not sure. I had hoped that we would choose together."

Dick looked at their daughter, contemplating what would suit her best. Their attention was directed suddenly to the window when singing suddenly broke through their thoughts. The sun was rising softly in the east and perched on a tree was a little bird, the same color as their daughter's eyes, singing out the new day.

"It's a fairy wren." Dick said at last. "That's strange. That species is native mostly to Australia. What's it doing here?"

However way it came there didn't really seem to matter at the moment. All they could pay attention to was the song coming from it. "What a miraculous melody." Kory said dreamily. The baby cooed in her arms as the bird sung on. Kory's face split in two. "Do you like that little one? Do you like that wren? Are you my little wren?"

Dick looked up thoughtfully. "Wren. Wren?"

Kory looked at him too. "I like it, too. Very well. Her middle name is Wren, because she is so like a little bird… as her father is." She added softly.

He rubbed his neck, staring down at his family with all the love a father and husband could have. "Mar'i Wren Grayson. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

Kory nodded.

Thanks to their alternate egos as Nightwing, the first Robin and sidekick of Batman, and Starfire, the alien princess of the planet Tameran, people believed that the two would never find time to raise a child. They had said much the same thing when the two wished to get married, but they did it. And now, here they were, holding what was the newest member of their incredible family. It hardly mattered if they were superheroes or not at this moment.

The door opened, just then, and in came three very different looking people.

Despite their normal appearances, the two new parents knew that their friends were merely hiding behind make up, a glamor, and a hologram in order to fool the everyday hospital staff while they visited their less-than-normal friends.

Cyborg, known as Victor, peeked in, before letting the other two pass. "Can we come in now?"

Dick and Kory nodded in unison and the three rushed through, eager to see the new infant.

Beast Man, known as Garfield in public, stepped forward, his eyes on the little bundle in Kory's arms. "Is that her?" He asked with interest.

Kori held up their daughter proudly. "Friends, say the hello to Mar'i, also known as our little Wren."

The three smiled at the sight of her and together said. "Hello Mar'i."

The first to hold her was Cyborg, who began tearing up when she gripped his big metal finger suddenly. It was so quick and strong that Victor felt as if he could actually feel it. The gesture seemed to be doing a number on him, and he passed her quickly to Beast Man so he could turn away before the others caught his choked up expression.

Raven's (aka Rachel Roth's) eyebrow twitched up, not missing it. "You alright, big guy?" She asked in her usual monotone voice.

Cyborg sniffed and didn't look at anyone. "I'm fine!" He sputtered, rubbing at his human eye. "I've just got something in my eye."

"Yeah, tears!" Beast Man blurted. "Dude, it's fine." The baby smiled at him and Beast Man beamed. "Ha, I haven't even cracked a joke and she already thinks I'm hysterical."

"Don't flatter yourself." Raven said.

Beast Man offered her to Raven, who seemed to step back a bit at the gesture. "Uh… I don't do well with kids. I've kinda got two left hands."

"Awe come on," Beast Man insisted, dropping her in the woman's arms before she could stop him. "It's not hard."

Raven's eyes widened at the unusual feeling of such a tiny, fragile person held in her arms. She stared and the baby smiled again, wider than when she was in Beast Man's. Then a soft smile crept on the woman's face.

"Friend Raven," Kori said happily. "I think she is in the like with you."

Cyborg sniffed louder and seemed to having trouble containing himself. They all looked at his back. "I'm sorry, guys, it's just so… I'm just so happy!" And then he bawled real big glistening tears. Beast Man pulled out an umbrella to shield himself from the waterfall pouring from the metal human.

"Dude, I asked for the news not the weather. Someone turn off the sprinklers, please."

Dick offered him some tissues from the bed side table. Cyborg sniffed loudly in a way that reminded all of them of a semi-truck horn. "Sorry, guys. I guess I'm just a little overwhelmed at the moment. Our little couple is all grown up and with a baby and everything."

Raven repressed the urge to roll her eyes. At the moment her attention was entirely on the little person in her arms. Then a thought occurred to her. "So are you going to take her to see her grandpa and uncle?"

Dick's expression changed briefly. The thought had never really occurred to him to make a trip down to Gotham so Bruce and Jason could see her afterwards. Undoubtedly, they would want a visit after news like this. It had been at least a year since they'd been there and an occasion like this certainly called for a visit

"Would you like to see Gotham, Star?"

Kori smiled softly. "I would very much like to see Gotham. It will be good for Wren to meet Bruce and the new Jason Todd. I think she should know the sort of line she comes from."

Dick nodded. "We'll make plans to leave this weekend then." Turning back to the other three he asked, "Think you guys can handle Jump for that long?"

Cyborg seemed to have gained control of himself and stared at Dick incredulously, "Three days? Of course we'll manage. If I remember correctly we once made it on our own without you for three whole months when we were nothing but teens."

Dick made an unreadable expression as if to say, _Don't remind me._

It had been five years since those three long, agonizing months and now, with the arrival of his daughter, he had no desire to bring those memories back up.

"Yeah come on man, we're big kids now," Beast Man added. "I think we'll manage."

Dick smiled again as Raven handed the baby girl back to her mother. He took in a deep breath. He wanted to enjoy this moment. The moment where his life wasn't filled with crime fighting and enemies; where he could enjoy this proud feeling that went with being a father.

For the moment life was good.

* * *

Yes, life was good for the young couple, but it wasn't sure to last. At that moment a mastermind watched the young couple on a screen intently. He watched their happiness unfold in front of him. They were so unknowing, so unaware of the horror that awaited them. That was how it normally occurred between the rivals.

The Titans would move into a sense of security with no idea of the plot unraveling all around them, and then _he_ would come to tear down those walls of safety and awaken the fear once again. He so disliked it when people forgot about him. And he would make sure that Dick Grayson, previously the first Robin, and now Nightwing, would never forget him… his greatest enemy…

Slade.

* * *

The two new parents marched proudly through the door in their apartment flat, the first time ever with Mar'i.

Dick wondered what it must be like to be that new. Were infants afraid at all, or just curious about the big unknown world surrounding them? Could they tell what was dangerous and what was safe? Did they even have developed instincts as complicated as that yet? How must such a place have looked to them when they were so innocent?

Starfire carried their baby through the enormous apartment, floating as the mother gave her the grand tour. Occasionally she would stop to point at something interesting such as Nightwing's motorcycle (or as Star called it, his cycle of motor intentions).

At last they made it to Mar'i's new room. Earlier that month, they had decorated on one of the walls with a mural of a growing green park doused in sunshine, a bright blue sky, and clouds surrounding it. Off to the corner, a white crib stood under a painting of a small tree with four little branches on it. On the top branch, hung a nest with one little blue egg inside. Over the crib were a mobile of six birds; a raven, a bat (which technically is not a bird), a canary, a falcon, a dove, and a robin (of course).

"And this is your room, Mar'i." Starfire announced happily walking over to the crib. She reached out and touched the mobile. "This is the mobile of birds." Her hand drifted to the robin. "And this one is a robin. Your father was a robin once, but now he is more like a falcon." She pulled something out of her pocket and hung it in the center of the mobile. It was a bright blue wren. "And this one is you, because you are our little Wren."

The baby cooed at the sight of the birds, as though she knew them very well and enjoyed the sight of all seven. Starfire turned a key at the base of the pole and the mobile began to turn while a dreamy Tamaranian lullaby filled the room.

Dick leaned against the door and watched the two women in his life. He came over and wrapped his arms around his wife, drawing her close to him. She smiled and leaned into his hold while the melody drifted through the room and the baby girl began to fall asleep in her arms. It was times like this that made them able to forget the real world they came from. The world where people fought to the teeth to keep someone from succeeding in dastardly plots, villains that broke a person to pieces, and places where there was no hope left to speak of.

One would wonder why they even decided to raise a child to begin with. It was mostly because Star wanted it, arguing that children were something that she was inclined to provide since she was, technically, the next in line for the throne on Tameran and she had a responsibility to her people. At first, Dick hadn't wanted to. He didn't feel it was right to bring an innocent child into the world when his and her lives were already shrouded nonstop with criminal injustice and fighting. Not to mention the countless enemies that would be able to use their child as a threat against them if they ever found out the truth of their identities. That was no way for a child to grow up. But, eventually, her words convinced him and they at last decided to try their luck.

It was the best decision he'd ever made.

* * *

They made the trip to Gotham where they met Alfred at the airport. The moment the man caught sight of the family, he smiled brightly. Dick and the man exchanged pleasantries till his interest shifted to Mar'i. "And is this the little miss?" he asked, gesturing to the bundle in Kory's arms.

Kori smiled, handing her to the butler before he'd asked or protested. He held her gently and one could see he had had experience with this before. "She looks just like her parents." The man said.

"We named her Mar'i." Kori announced proudly. "It means Night Star, where I come from."

"Both your names put together I see."

They nodded and Alfred smiled, handing her back so the two could get in the car. Kori strapped her into the car seat Alfred had already prepared for them and they sped down the road, pulling up to Wayne Manor in little under half an hour.

"Master Bruce, Miss Gordon, and Master Jason are waiting for you in the sitting room."

"Oh so Barbara was able to make it." Dick noted. He'd been under the impression that the Batgirl would most likely be hung up at the Gotham Police Department for the day and wouldn't make it to the mansion in time to meet the new addition to their family. He wasn't sure if he felt more at ease knowing that the woman he considered to be something like a big sister would be there or not. Certainly she would attempt to make the awkwardness of the visit a bit more at ease for the rest of them.

In all honesty, he was rather fearing this visit. He wasn't exactly sure how Bruce would react. Would he be happy for the two? Logic told him that the man had no reason to be displeased or judgmental about anything. Even so, he wasn't quite sure what this visit would bring.

He paused outside the door of the sitting room, trying to keep his breathing even and hopefully let himself calm down a bit before facing them. Kori touched his arm, reassuringly. Whatever happened happened.

Feeling brave again, he pushed open the doors and allowed the rest of the Batclan to see them.

Barbara's face immediately split into a joyful expression at the sight of the family. She rushed over and embraced her figuratively adopted brother warmly.

"Dick, it's been a long time."

Dick hugged her back warmly. "How are you, Barbs?"

"Doing fine." She tensed for a moment and stepped back suddenly when he hugged her a little too tightly. "Sorry. Got a little beat up on the job the other night."

He knew she wasn't talking about her desk job at the station. "How's that going for you?"

"Great actually. We just got done dealing with a major Clayface case and the criminal population is running scared since."

"Hey Dick," Jason said coming up and punching his brother's shoulder gently. "Hiya Star."

"Hello Jason. It is good to see you again." Star said politely.

Bruce stepped forward at that minute and the room went briefly silent as Dick faced him.

"Hello, Dick. Welcome back."

"Hi, Bruce."

"It's good to see you again."

"Likewise."

The tension was almost tangible in the room. Even Kori noticed it where normally she was overall oblivious to that kind of unease. Finally Barbara had the sense to break the strain.

"So… is that my little niece?"

Everyone leapt at the subject, finding comfort on the new topic. They each took turns holding the new baby girl and chatting about nonchalant issues. Once or twice they got on the subject of their vigilante activities but other than that it stayed relatively off business.

"So would you like to patrol with us tonight, Dick?" Barbara asked.

"Yeah, I think I'll do that. I haven't seen any Gotham Villains for a while, so it'll be nice to say hello."

"I think you'll have more than that to hope for." Alfred told them all as he walked in. "Joker and TwoFace just escaped from Arkham, and Poison Ivy is wreaking havoc on Gotham Suburbs."

Everyone got to their feet.

"Looks like we may be needing everyone's help on this one." Bruce said, moving towards the grandfather clock in his office. Everyone filed through but he stopped Dick before he could pass. "Hey, it's good to have you back, Dick."

The younger man smiled. "Yeah. It's good to be back."

"And I swear if you call me grandpa…"

"Of course not. But what do you expect Mar'i to call you? Bruce?"

"'It's been fine with everyone else so far."

"You apparently have no idea what I call you when you're not around." Barbara called from the bottom of the stairs.

Dick laughed and followed his family down to the batcave. It was nice to be home.

* * *

Dick smiled as he put the pink onesie on Mar'i. From what little he could gather from the infant, she did enjoy these times with her father just as much as he enjoyed the brief moments with her. Kori was gone for a girl's night out with Raven so it was just the two of them at the apartment tonight.

"…And no matter what Mumbo says, we really did kick his butt inside his own hat." Mar'i cooed as her father reached the end of the adventure. He picked her up and held her on his knee. "Look at you, you are probably the cutest baby in the world. You've got little hands, big blue eyes, big round belly, and a big baby butt." He laughed at how that sounded. "I like big butts." And without knowing what he was doing for a moment he started rapping. "I like big butts and I cannot lie, You other brothers can't deny, that when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist and a round thing in your face you get…"

Mar'i giggled delightfully. It was just the thing to warm a father's heart.

Dick grinned. "Mar'i, you're laughing. Your first laugh. You've never done that before. Daddy made you laugh didn't he. Well daddy and Sir-Mix-a-Lot. Wanna hear some more? Alright. My anaconda don't want none unless you've got buns hun…" He stopped and frowned as he took the moment to reflect upon the song choice he had made and how duly inappropriate it probably was. "I am a terrible father."

* * *

When Kori returned Dick approached her at the door and grinned excitedly.

"I did it." Dick cried happily as Kori walked through the door. "I got Mar'i to laugh! It was so incredible!"

Kori's mouth dropped to the floor. "You succeeded in producing her to laugh? And I missed it? All because I was giving that stupid goth a makeover?!" She looked outraged as she dropped to the couch to sulk. "How was it? Was it glorious?"

"Oh it was the most adorable thing in the world. It was just like a little squeak."

"What did you do to get her to laugh?"

Dick went a little red at the thought. "Oh um… well… I sung her or… I guess rapped… a little song."

"What song?"

"…Um… Baby Got Back."

"You what?" Kori paled and her face slowly became angry as she stood to her full height out of repulsion. "You sang a lecherous rap song to our two week old baby girl?"

"Well… it was the only thing that worked and she thought it was hilarious."

"That does not excuse the fact that you exposed our infant to a racy genre of hip hop pop culture."

"I know but nothing else would work and it wasn't like I said any of the bad words. And when you think about it in perspective it really actually promotes a healthy body image. I mean big butts could actually…" He trailed off when he saw the disapproving look on her face. "Please don't take her away from me."

* * *

"Okay, Mar'i, please laugh for mommy. Please laugh." Kory crossed her eyes, making a very funny face as she blew a raspberry for her daughter. Mar'i's face remained unchanged as her mother tried fruitlessly to produce a laugh from the infant. "Not very funny, is it? So is it merely crude rap music? Or simply any sort of rap? Well that is not difficult. Mommy can rap."

"My name is mommy  
And I just want to say  
That all the babies—

"Oh I cannot rap!" Kory crossed her arms in defeat and studied the blank face on her daughter. "Very well Mar'i, this is only because I love you so much, and I know you are not going to tell anyone." She breathed, rolling her eyes to the ceiling as she prepared herself for the inappropriate song. "I… like big butts and I cannot lie. You other brothers cannot deny, that when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist and a round thing in your face—"

Mar'i giggled delightfully and Kory's face split into a gleeful smile with success.

She laughed and bounced on her heals. "Oh yes, yes, yes. Mar'i you are laughing! I like big butts and I cannot lie, you other brother cannot deny—"

Mar'i giggled louder and Kory clapped with pleasure, taking her out of the seat and hugging her daughter to her chest. "You really do like big butts. Oh you beautiful little weirdo!"

* * *

When Beast Man opened the door, the three friends looked upon a very amusing sight. Both Dick and Kori were busy dancing wildly in front of Mar'i's cradle, loudly singing one of the most unusual songs they could have been expecting. Mar'i was currently busy giggling enthusiastically as her father and mother reached the end of the pre-chorus.

"I've seen them dancin'"

"**To hell with romancin'"**

"She's sweat, wet,  
Got it goin' like a turbo 'Vette"

"**So, fellas**!"

"Yeah!"

"**Fellas**!"

"Yeah!"

"**Has your girlfriend got the butt?**"

"Oh yeah!"

"**Tell 'em to shake it!**"

"Shake it!"

"**Shake it!**"

"Shake it!"

"**Shake that healthy butt!**"

"Baby got back!"

"One more time from the top!" Kori cried. Dick turned just in time to see the others standing in the doorway, giving the two odd looks at their choice of lullabies for their two-month-old. Kori's back was to them and she continued to rap wildly without pause.

"**I like big butts and I cannot lie  
You other brothers can't deny…**"

She trailed off after realizing Dick was no longer dancing or rapping with her and turned to where he was staring. Her face turned to a redder shade of tan at the sight of the four teammates.

The two parents stared at their friends as if they'd just caught the two trying to rob a bank. There was a long moment of awkward silence.

Kori broke it when she turned quickly around and smacked Dick against the chest suddenly. "Richard, please! That is so inappropriate!"

Mar'i continued to giggle even after her parents had stopped. The song and the dancing were hilarious to her.

* * *

"Man, why didn't I have a camera with me?" Beast Man cried through laughter. Two hours later and he still thought it was hilarious. "That would have seriously put me on Funniest Home Videos."

"You? Why you? The video was about us!" Dick responded. "Or… it would have been about us if we had filmed it."

It was Dick's birthday and Kory decided to host a small party in their apartment. They all gathered round the dinner table as wine, provided by Garfield, was passed around in glasses.

"Well you guys continue to vent your delight in our moment of embarrassment, but it was all completely worth it to hear her glorious glee." Kory proclaimed.

"Well I can't really blame her." Raven said. "You two are definitely funny looking."

"Oh sure, very funny." Kory said. "But I think you would feel differently if you had children of your own."

Garfield and Raven both exchanged glances with one another. "I'm not sure we're really ready for kids just yet."

"Well how about you and Karen, Vic?"

"We're looking into adoption." Victor announced. "Thanks to… well this," he gestured to his robotic body and continued, "I can't exactly have kids of my own, but Karen's niece keeps us pretty busy already."

"Oh yeah, how's she doing? She's got to be pretty big by now right?"

Karen smiled at Garfield. "She'll be six in another month."

"That'll be nice. She is such a sweetheart."

"Tell me about it. Sure can be a handful, though."

"Children should be." Kory announced, setting Mar'i on her knee. "It is a constant reminder telling us that we are parents."

Dick reached over and ruffled his daughter's hair. He loved his family so much. Hopefully his friends would be able to one day feel this same compassion, too.

* * *

"You know, Kory may have a point." Garfield said later that night. He and Raven were getting ready for bed when he brought the subject up.

"Kory has a point about what?" The woman asked as she slipped into her nightgown.

"Do you think that maybe, we should consider having some kids of our own?" The green man asked her.

Raven stared at him blankly. It was like that for several minutes. Finally Gar couldn't take it anymore.

"Well say something!"

"I'm not really sure I'm ready for kids, Gar." Raven admitted. "I mean, I guess we can talk about it, but as far as having kids right now, I'm not really sure if I'm ready like that."

"That's fine. I'd like to make sure we're both ready before we cross that bridge."

"Good." A mischievous glint caught in her eye as she reached over and twined her fingers in his pajama shirt, bringing him towards her. "In the meantime I think it's safe to enjoy our time alone as a couple."

Gar smiled, leaning over her. "I'm good with that."

He closed the distance and swept her up with a passionate kiss. Raven clawed at his chest, but before they had gone too far, her hand slapped the air in search of the switch to the lamp. She found it only after she had been successful in knocking over an empty vase and the clock radio. With their world plunged in darkness the only things that existed to them was each other.

* * *

Dick opened the door wearily. It had been a long night. Kori was already asleep and Mar'i was silent in her room. He opened the door to check on her before heading to his own room. The nightlight on her bedside table illuminated the room with a colorful holographic galaxy, creating a peaceful aura. Dick smiled softly at the sight of the still mound of black hair in the crib. He retreated from the room without closing the door. If Mar'i cried, he needed to hear it.

Inside his own room, Kori was already sound asleep. He undressed quickly and quietly, dropping his clothes by the door. He pulled on his sweats but left his chest bare and crawled in next to her, wrapping her in a soft embrace.

"Welcome home." Kori murmured at the warmth of his touch. "How was your night?"

Dick kissed her on the cheek. "It's getting better."

She smiled, closing her eyes once more and snuggled closer to him. The two of them drifted off to sleep together wrapped in an embrace.

* * *

Mar'i slept soundly in her safe and cheerful room. The nightlight of planets, stars, and nebulas rotated steadily above her, casting the room in an almost hypnotic beauty.

She stirred when she heard a soft click coming from the window. A draft billowed in and she whimpered as she was brought out of her colorful dreams by the uncomfortable cold. The birds above her turned in a smooth and languid circle and the melody drifted from the music box. She looked up, wiggling out of the swaddled bundle so that her arms were free. She reached her small hand out to touch the center one, which was the closest to her; the little blue wren.

She didn't know much, but instinct told her that she liked the little thing. She liked how gentle and friendly it felt, and the soft feathers were nice against the sensitive skin of her fingers.

Her eyes grew wide as a new frightening face appeared to her over the side of her crib.

* * *

Soft crying interrupted his restless dreams. Groaning, Dick sat up as the needs of his daughter alerted him instantly. He rolled his bare shoulders, trying to wake up a little.

"The time of feeding." Starfire said beside him, waking up as well. "I can get her. You have had a busy night."

"I'm already awake. I'll do it." Dick announced getting out of bed. He rubbed his face, trying to wake up as the cries continued. He moved his feet and stretched, wishing he could wake up more and went into the next door room. The sight inside made him stop dead in his tracks. Within that single expanse of time, Dick became fully awake.

"SLADE!" He screamed in shock, unable to suppress the horror upon seeing his greatest enemy, standing in front of him and holding his crying daughter.

Dick didn't pause. He rushed at him, intending to tackle the older man to the ground. But Slade was more than prepared for such an attack. He dodged easily, despite the bundle in his arms.

"Careful, Robin," He whispered, purposefully using the man's ex-alias. "You might end up hurting your daughter."

"Slade, you piece of death worshiping evil garbage!" Dick yelled, swinging a fist at his enemy's head. The way Slade was able to dodge each blow seemed almost lazily. The space in the baby room was limited and Dick found himself bumping into things. "Get your filthy hands off her!"

He could tell the older man was smiling somewhere under his mask and fury propelled him to attack harder. Slade hadn't even swung a fist at him this whole time, merely continued to avoid his repeated attacks. "I'm disappointed, Robin. Five years to study for this encounter and you can't even land a blow. With your daughter's life on the line, it's really quite sad."

Dick felt his fury rising with every word. He wanted to make Slade hurt so much. He wanted even for everything the man put him through as a boy, and now what he was doing by holding his child. It was positively unforgiveable!

At that moment a green starbolt illuminated the room, hitting the wall beside Slade's head. Dick's attention was diverted to the door where Starfire hovered in her lavender silk nightgown, her fists raised and illuminated with green orbs. A look of concentrated fury covered her face. A look that emphasized the position Slade was in; the most dangerous place in the world, which was between a mother and her child.

"PUT. HER. DOWN!"

For one horrible moment Dick's attention was completely on his wife. The next moment Slade was beside him, holding up a knife, wet with fresh blood. Dick swung at him, but found that his arm was numb.

He looked over and saw a long line of red running over his left arm. He never even felt the blade cut him. Suddenly drowsiness overwhelmed him and he slumped to the ground in exhaustion. He looked through blurry vision as Slade took the opportunity to dive out of the window, still carrying his crying daughter.

"No…" Dick whispered, desperately reaching out to stop him. "Mar'i…"

Starfire was distracted as Dick fell to the ground, but he shook his head at her. "Don't worry about me. Get him!"

Starfire did as she was told, immediately soaring quickly out the window to follow the kidnapper. It would have been impossible to locate him in the darkness, but thanks to her daughter's cries, she was able to trace him up on the roof.

She spotted Slade climbing higher, using his one hand to hoist him from bar to bar, while the other held tightly to her baby. Starfire followed him to the ledge of the roof where he turned and faced her at last.

Starfire stopped and gasped when she saw the reason he had halted. The blade he'd used on Dick was now pointed threateningly under her baby's chin.

Starfire gaped, hovering frightfully in the air. "You would not harm an infant." Even as she said it, she wasn't sure she fully believed it. Hurting a baby was nothing compared to the atrocities he had committed for as long as she had known him.

Slade stepped closer to the edge. "If that's what you believe."

"Without a doubt you are cruel, Slade, but I do not believe you are _that_ cruel."

He held the blade closer to the baby who cried out at the touch of the cold metal. "Would you be willing to bet your daughter's life on that?"

Starfire stared at him with set determination. Then her glowing arm fell slowly to her side in anguish. "No. I would not." She could tell that he was smiling even if his mask covered his face. "What are your intentions for her?" She demanded, trying keep her voice from cracking at the terrible idea.

"That's for me to know and you to find out."

But Starfire seemed to understand. "We have not seen a trace of you in little over five years. You… are still in search of an apprentice?"

"For lack of a better way to say it, yes."

It suddenly dawned on her that this was the first real conversation she'd ever had alone with this man. She did not enjoy it. "This is all because Dick had no wish to be your apprentice the last two times you kidnapped and forced him to. So you intend to make Mar'i be it instead."

Slade seemed a little disappointed that she'd figured it out that fast. "You spoiled the surprise. But yes. If I can't have Robin I will take his child. It really is the perfect revenge."

Starfire hissed, her eyes gleaming green and her hands balling into fists. "You will return her to her parents!" She started forward.

"If you fight me now, Dick's life won't be worth a bird-arang."

Starfire stopped, her eyes dimming back to her usual colors. "What have you done to Dick?"

Slade's voice hinted with amusement. "The blade I cut him with was poisoned. He has a little over two minutes left to live. In the lobby of this building there is a vase of flowers where I hid the syringe with the antidote inside. And since you've already wasted a considerable amount of time, I'd say you don't have very long to make a decision." He paused to let his news sink in. "So what's it going to be, Starfire?" She cringed when he'd said her name. "Will you let your daughter go… or let your husband die?"

Starfire's heart stopped. How could she ever decide such a thing? She ran over the logic quickly in her head. If she fought him now, Dick would certainly die. If she let him go, they were likely to never see their daughter again. Yet there was the smallest possibility that they _would_ find her. She knew that if there was even a chance to find Mar'i, she and the rest of the Titans would move heaven and hell to bring her home.

Starfire's eyes glistened with the pain such a decision forced from her. She pleaded to Slade as she turned in the air. "Please… do not hurt her."

And before she could change her mind, she sped as fast as she could to the lobby of their apartment building. She tried not to think of the fact that she'd allowed a psychotic villain to take her daughter from her. Or of the fact that that said villain was their team's greatest foe. Or that he'd intentionally abused Dick emotionally, physically, and mentally while under his influence. Or that he was responsible for the murders of countless victims. She didn't think of any of that. All she thought about was saving Dick.

She found the vase and threw it on the ground where it smashed to pieces, sending flowers and water covering everything. She spotted the said syringe filled with a pink liquid and snatched it up. She rushed back to the apartment where she saw her husband sprawled on the ground drenched in a cold sweat as the poison took its toll on him.

"NO!" Starfire cried, fearing that she was already too late. She rolled him over and plunged the needle into his arm, allowing the antidote to empty into his bloodstream. She waited and stared at him while it took its time to heal him.

He didn't move. He didn't breath.

Starfire leaned her head on his bare chest, trying to hear his heart. She heard nothing.

"NO!" She cried. She'd been too late. She pounded on his chest, attempting to perform CPR to get his heart to pump the remaining antidote through his body. She pushed on his chest, one… two… three… four… five…

He coughed, breathing on his own at last. Starfire breathed with relief, burying her face in his chest.

For a moment he didn't move, except to breathe and wait for the feeling to return to his limbs. When he'd regained control over his body, he looked up at her and gasped. "Mar'i! Where's Mar'i, Starfire?"

Starfire's eyes clouded with tears at the thought. "He… I couldn't…" She looked away, unable to face him. Her hesitation spoke volumes.

Dick got to his feet, ignoring the dizziness the move caused him. "NO!" He ran to the window and looked out into the night, as if expecting to see a trace of Slade running across the street, but the man was long gone by now, as was his child. He turned on Starfire, gripping her by the shoulders, a desperate fury in his face. "Why did you come back for me? Why didn't you stop him?"

"I… you would have died." She said sadly. His grip on her shoulders was almost painful.

"No!" He cried urgently. "You shouldn't have come back for me. You should have fought him." He turned away from the woman gazing out into the night with distress. His voice cracked with desperation as he spoke on. "You should have saved _her_."

Though Starfire knew he was right to believe their daughter's life was more precious than his, she felt as though she should've defended herself.

"What if he had planned for that?" She asked, her eyes watering as she spoke out her frustration. "What if I was unable to thwart him? Then I would have lost both a husband _and_ a daughter." She looked away from him, wrapping her hands around her arms to circulate heat from the cold she felt. "I do not care what you say. I have no regrets for saving you."

Dick looked at her, and saw that her logic had been reasonable. Even still, he felt a great rage burning inside him. Not for her, but for the monster that had taken their only child. The room was unbearably silent. Then he spoke.

"Five years." He said, leaning against the window frame for support. "He's been planning this for five years. The last time three months, and the time before that six. I almost lost myself both times. If he does this right, he'll make sure we never see her again."

Starfire felt her life falling apart. They would never see Mar'i again? That didn't seem possible. Yet here they were, standing together in her baby room, without their baby.

Her hand came up to her mouth at the idea and she tried to bite back tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.

Dick looked over and saw the distress all over her form. He walked over and offered her his comfort with a reassuring hug. "We have to alert the Titans and the Justice League as well as the Doom Patrol. If Slade pops up anywhere on the map we'll find him. We're going to find Mar'i, Star. I promise."

* * *

He strolled down the hallway with the prize in his arms. She was silent at last, having fallen asleep sometime as they were leaping over the buildings of Jump. He reached the room that he'd prepared for her and handed her to the nanny bot he'd built to take care of her through infancy. Heaven knew he wouldn't be taking care of that himself. He had far more important things to attend to that didn't involve nursing a baby.

He'd built this robot differently than his normal Sladebots. It looked more feminine that the other masculine fighting machines he used for his army. It also had a gentler disposition with being all silver and sporting a smooth blank face.

Slade stopped for a moment to watch as the robot took the child in its arms and put her in the crib. She was still and asleep all through it. When that was done, the robot walked to the corner of the room and stood without moving or making a sound of any kind. If the child cried, the thing would tend to her as needed, but if there was nothing to do, then it would leave and stay on standby.

Slade moved closer, looking over the bars of the crib at the sleeping child. He studied her without moving. She was too young for just about everything. That was good. It would let him mold her the way it was intended. The way he couldn't do when he had her father as his apprentice. He'd taken every measure to make this work. He had covered his tracks and whisked the child away without leaving a trace for _them_ to follow. If all went well, Nightwing and Starfire would never see their daughter again until it was too late.

He reached down and stroked the mop of raven black hair gently. She stirred but remained asleep. He spoke and somehow his words made their way into her muddled infant dreams. "Your father was able to escape me, but you won't. Not ever. I'll make sure you won't."

* * *

**YES! I DID steal that scene from Friends! Where Rachel and Ross dance around in front of Emma's bassinette singing Baby Got Back! I regret nothing!**


	2. Chapter 1 Mar'i to Wren

**I wrote this to save time. To pass the years quickly but without having to delete scenes that I felt were significant to Mar'i's development through childhood. I also decided to make her upbringing something similar to what Damian Wayne went through with his mother Talia.**

**(For those of you, who don't know, Damian is Bruce Wayne's biological son and is the grandson of Ra's Al Ghul, and becomes the next robin… in a few years after this and the next chapter's events.)**

**P.S. From here on out, her name will be referred to as Wren (hence the title of the chapter). This is because I originally planned to call her Wren in the first place, but somewhere along the development of this tale I learned through the magic of fan art, that Starfire and Dick actually have a daughter and her name is Mar'i. She's entirely different from what I envisioned and it was mild to say I wasn't a little disappointed. But then I figured that my story could still work out if her name was originally Mar'i like her parents had named her but Slade had it changed to Wren to keep them from tracking her. So all was not lost!**

**Also, because I normally draw pictures to go with my characters (and I just loved it so much), Wren's appearance is very different from what the comics show her being. For one thing, I changed her eye color to blue, like her father's, and her hair is short and sort of disheveled, as his was too. In fact, just really imagine Robin as a little girl, with a face shape like Starfire's and blueish Tamaranian features. Got it? Good.**

**I own nothing. Everything belongs to DC comics and Warner Bros.**

* * *

**Chapter 1  
Mar'i to ****Wren**

**Age one**  
**Master:** She learned her first word. It wasn't Mama or Dada as one would assume, but Slade.

**Empty: **A month after her first word, she walked on her own for the first time. Her nannybot held its arms out for her as she struggled forward, but there was no warmth in them when she reached it. Only emptiness.

**White: **Her room held no pictures. No personality. Only a bare empty space. Though she learned to adapt to it and she was hardly a full year old, it felt wrong to her. Lonely. And she couldn't help but despised it.

* * *

**Age two**  
**Papa:** She learned that the man known as Slade was not her father but her master and she was to remember that fact. Somehow, she still did not fully understand the difference.

**Cold:** She longed for attention. She longed for notice and affection of some sort. The kind her robot caretaker could not give her. Desperately she turned to the only human she knew of. He didn't even acknowledge her, but walked steadily away. Despite the heat in the room, it did nothing to warm the chill she felt by his refusal.

* * *

**Age three****  
Crayons:** Her punishment for coloring on the walls involved a long hour of scrubbing and her drawing supplies taken from her for a whole week.

**Parents:** She learned how to read earlier than expected. _Bird_ was the first word she read correctly. _Star_ was the next. Somehow these words meant something to her, though the extent and reason for such escaped her completely.

**Study:** She was submerged in training of every kind. Her master pushed her to every limit and beyond. If she failed, he would make her do it till she got it right.

* * *

**Age four**  
**Apprentice:** The day of her birthday was the day he began to exercise the born fighter within her. He called it training. At first, it was hard on her weak muscles. As time pressed, though, she became more durable to the long hours of endless physical study.

**War:** Somehow she just despised the word, but her master insisted that such a thing was necessary for an evolving world. She at last agreed with him on that, but there was still a lingering doubt that remained inside her gut.

**Solitude:** Her life was relatively sheltered. She only knew what he gave to her—the books she read, the clothes she wore, the food she ate—it was all highly limited. Nothing reached her that slipped past his notice.

**Purpose:** She had no drive. She held no passion for the fight and Slade knew it. Saw it in the way she tried to attack him with empty desire to win. He saw now that she was nothing like her father. She needed a goal, something to make her work harder. If only he could find it.

* * *

**Age five****  
****Alien:** Her back slams to the ground, but she bites her tongue to keep from crying out. She gasps, trying to catch her breath at the sudden impact. He stands over her and shakes his head. He makes her perform the exercise until she's completed it to perfection. By then, her fists hurt and her chest is marred by bruises, but thanks to her unusual anatomy they're gone before the next morning.

**Proud:** The first time he complemented her, sent a warm feeling through her entire structure. Subconsciously, she worked so that he would complement her again. That was her drive as she fought.

**Laugh:** She doesn't understand the word. Never had a sound ever slipped through her mouth or reached her ears in this place. Though, distantly, a light memory flitted through her mind of such sounds like the one described sometimes in her books.

**Robin:** For eight days, a bird with a bright red breast hung around her window. It looked at her and chirped as if intending to tell her something, but what, she did not know. When she asks Slade what kind it is, he paused as though lost in thought before answering. Then next morning the bird did not come back, but a dark red stained the branch where it had perched.

**Emotion:** For years it's been repressed. No joy, no anger, no sorrow. Just a neutral mask she's been trained to keep. Perhaps that's the reason she's been unable to tap into the energy born within her. Even still, she's a powerhouse of abilities that Slade finds pleasing.

**Nightmare:** She has only one, arising every now and then to plague her as she sleeps. It is the constant fear and anguish of being taken away somehow and being helpless to do anything about it. In the morning, though, she has no memory of such a trauma and continues with her routine as usual.

* * *

**The memory**

The air was cold outside for an August evening. Slade closed the window as a breeze ruffled the papers on his desk. It was already well past midnight, but he felt no fatigue as he worked on without a care. After another few minutes, he got up to stretch a bit from the extended sitting. With the exercise he decided to grab a light snack from the kitchen as well. As he was coming back to his study, he decided to check in on his ward.

Sometimes Slade came to her room to check on her as she slept. Normally she was still and silent, with the only movements from her being the steady up and down rhythm of her breathing. But that particular night was different. Tonight there was something he had never seen in her before.

She sobbed, though her eyes remained completely closed as a nightmare took its toll on her. For a moment he didn't know what to do. It had been a long time since he'd been placed into a position like this. His old apprentice had had nightmares as well, but that had been well over a decade before this.

He sat at the desk by her bed and reached a hand to comfort her. Before he'd touched her though, she spoke, clear and distinctly to him. "Why did you take me away?"

Slade froze. How could she ever remember that? It had been years ago while she was no more than a newborn. Even if she were part alien, she could not have actually remembered such an ordeal. She certainly showed no such signs of it while she was awake. Perhaps, in some subconscious part of her mind, that one experience had had more traumatic effects on her than could have ever been anticipated.

Her eyes, though wet with tears, were clearly shut. She was speaking out of the dream as if she really knew he was there. But she couldn't have. Slade convinced himself that she was merely sleep talking. Despite that fact, he answered her.

"I needed an heir." He told her, honestly, reaching over and pushing back her raven black hair.

"But why did you pick me?" She said, hearing his words but somehow still caught in the dream.

"I wanted your father, but I could never get him on my side. No matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried to break him, he would never relinquish to me. So I chose you out of revenge. I also expected that you would hold similar traits to him; the traits that attracted me to him in the first place."

"It was wrong." She sobbed. "I am nothing! Made of nothing but programming you put into me! There is nothing here that is my own."

It was true. He had no wish to admit it, but it was true. She was like one of his robots. Though, she learned every day, though she spoke with words, unlike the mute machines he was constantly surrounded by, she was no more than what he made her. She had no real desire to learn or to win even, but did so because he told her to. There was nothing about her that he did not know of.

He gripped her arm in comfort. "No, you are not nothing. Eventually, you will be everything I intended for you to be and even more. You will be the perfect apprentice and with time the perfect successor."

"But I want…"

He stopped her with a gentle hand over her mouth. "I do not care what you want. It is what you need that will be determined here."

She wept more. "You cannot give me what I need."

Slade said no more to that. Instead he pushed her arms away from her face and wiped her tears away himself. When she was again calm and back in other less troubling dreams, he pulled up her blankets and tucked them around her. She made no more noise as he left.

The morning after she had no memory of the event and continued with her routine as usual.

* * *

**Age six  
****Birthday:** Every year on this day, a dual takes place between master and apprentice, demonstrating all that she learned that year and what was accomplished. He tests her endurance, wondering if she will surprise him. It carries on only because he lets it, but when he sees nothing is likely to change, he ends it, wishing her a Happy Birthday as she stares up at him from her back.

**School:** The subjects he teaches her are diverse and advanced, but once she's managed the elementary level, the rest isn't all that difficult to her.

**Language:** Somehow this subject stumps her. There are too many to comprehend together. She understands English and that was enough for her, but as always, she must excel at more than just her native tongue and he makes her learn until she's perfected it. Still, she wished that somehow there was a way for her to learn it quick and easy.

**Win:** It means everything to her master; therefore it _had_ to mean everything to her as well.

**Three:** The main ways to attack a person was at the head, the body, and most importantly, the heart.

**Gene:** Her hair is uncommonly untamed for her age. She wears it short to keep it out of her eyes yet after it dries from a shower, it sticks out in all directions and it doesn't matter how often she brushes it, nothing seems to keep it down.

**First: **When he looks at her from a specific angle, she has the odd feeling that he may be comparing her to someone else.

* * *

**Age seven**  
**Hunting: **Occasionally, he has her accompany him on these day long trips, showing her the importance of survival and learning to adapt to her own surroundings. When the prey comes to them he has her stay down while he makes the kill. She stays close and watches while he cleans the freshly dead animal. Her feelings on the amount of blood is nonexistent. She just does whatever he tells her to do.

**Gun:** He shows her the parts of it and makes her put it together and take it apart piece by piece. When she's memorized every inch of it, he demonstrates the proper posture in which to shoot it as well as the safety precautions one needed to know on handling such a lethal device.

**Bullet:** The damage such a little thing can do doesn't register until Slade has her kill her first buck. If she could process emotions normally, she would have felt something along the lines of perhaps guilt for killing it. But nothing registered while the animal fell sideways to the ground. Nothing but emptiness.

**Test:** They drive for hours in the moonless night. And after there is no more road to follow, they set out on foot. Miles pass and neither of them speak. At last they stop and Slade turns to hand her a book of matches and a knife. "Find your way home." He ordered to her, before vanishing into the darkness. And like that, Wren did as she was told.

* * *

**Age eight**  
Slade watched her eat with those perfect manners. The manners he'd pounded into her until they were performed correctly. She no longer slouched, no longer fidgeted, no longer picked at her food. Not only was it her manners but the way she spoke; with perfect diction and perfect grammar, almost as if those had been programmed into her. It felt almost unnatural for a child that young to behave the way she did, but it pleased him. She knew how to act and that fact was good.

"Tomorrow," He began, ignoring the surprise on her face that came with his sudden speech. Normally these evening dinners were spent in silence, so a voice any time was startling. "We are going on a trip."

"A trip?" The thought was unfamiliar. She'd always been here. Always at the estate. So far, this tiny patch of land was all she really thought the world was made of, because it was really the only thing she remembered seeing. Sometimes Master Slade went out on trips, but never Wren. The thought was… unusual. "So… I'm going, too? Where are we going?"

"To Central City," he answered casually.

She'd heard of it before, seen pictures and read stories about the resident superhero known as the Flash, but she'd never thought much about visiting. She wondered if it would be much like what she'd heard. Or at least what Slade allowed her to hear. She learned about the criminal underworld there. Learned of its network and that Slade controlled at least 35% of all underground smuggling in that city alone. Normally he would leave to oversee that sort of work himself, but why was he now deciding to take her along?

"Is this about the shipments?" She didn't know what the shipments were, exactly, just that there were these things called shipments that Master Slade went to look over every now and then.

"Yes." He said simply.

"Will I be participating, or just observing?"

"Observing." He answered.

Normally, a child her age would probably groan at the thought of such a boring trip into the city, but not her. For all it counted, she didn't have much of an opinion about it at all. She merely nodded and turned back to eating what was on her plate.

Her attitude disappointed him. He wished she had more of a flare like her father before her; a spark that had risen up with his fighting and training. But there was none. Hopefully the trip into the city might awaken her a little bit.

* * *

They drove in by car. Wren seated in the front while Slade drove. He had briefed her on the purposes for this trip and the behavior she was to demonstrate before they had left.

"This is an inspection errand, understand. I'm there to oversee some very important shipments coming through. You will accompany me to observe. You are not to speak unless spoken to and you will be on your best manners. Is that clear?"

Wren nodded, standing up straight and holding her hands behind her back like a good student. "Yes sir."

She dressed in a black cheongsam vest and a pair of samfoo pants with slippers. Her outfit was meant to look professional but underneath it, Slade had insisted she put on a bulletproof vest. In addition she wore titanium braces that exceeded just an inch or so below her elbows. For what reason, he never specified.

They entered the city and Wren couldn't' contain the awe on her face. This was the first time she'd been in a city of any kind. Sure, she'd seen pictures and graphs and modules, but it wasn't the same as being there. The way the buildings seemed to grow strait out of the sidewalk like giant gleaming plants, was tremendous. Normally, her focus on the task at hand was absolute, but being—well eight—she couldn't suppress the marvel on her face.

The skyscrapers eventually dispersed into smaller buildings and they pulled into the docks where several men were expecting them. Wren followed behind Slade, keeping quiet and doing her best to keep up with their long strides despite her short legs.

One of the men inquired about her company but Slade simply said, "The reason she's here is my concern, not yours." With that, the man was silent about her and they followed the group to the area in which they proceeded to show their guests what they'd gotten for them.

"As you requested, Mr. Steele, your shipments came in right on time. All three hundred crates." They walked to a set of black crates and opened it to allow their client to study them up close. "State of the art parts, made from only the best materials: titanium alloy, bronze… the works."

Slade examined the parts expertly, taking them out and looking them over. Appearing satisfied, he stepped and looked up at the men. "Well you certainly know my preferences."

"Only the best." The man said. "Now for the payment."

Slade nodded and turned to sign some papers. He handed the leader a card and the man swiped it into his smartphone. Immediately, the money was transferred digitally. The man frowned as he looked at the amount. "This is only half of what you said."

"I intend to pay you the rest once I've collected." Slade told them. "I can't take them all with me now but I'll have a few of my workers come by and pick up the crates later today. They'll give you the remaining amount and a bit extra for such a job well done."

"The longer these parts are in our possession the longer my operation is at risk of exposer." The man argued.

"Well you've managed to keep your business a secret this long, I don't believe a few hours more will hurt."

"You're a hard bargain, Steele." The man scowled. "Fine! If the cops come to confiscate everything it'll be your stuff not mine."

"You'll make sure they won't though, because you haven't gotten the full amount yet, as well as me to deal with should these parts ever be found and confiscated. And I'm counting on that."

Without another word, Slade turned and proceeded back to the car with Wren following silently. When they reached the car, Slade put it in drive and they were down the road once again. As they left the docks, Slade began to quiz her on the visit they'd just taken.

"So, Wren, were you paying attention?"

"Yes." She answered.

"What was the meeting about?"

"A shipment you ordered for specially made parts."

"Do you know what the parts were for?"

She thought for a moment though it didn't take her too long to figure it out. "An upgraded module of your Sladebots?"

"Correct. What kind of parts was I inspecting?"

"The armor plating."

"Did you hear what kind of materials were used?"

"Titanium alloy and bronze."

"Why do you think I chose those metals for the Sladebots."

Wren glared in thought. His questions were getting harder. "Because… because… titanium is the strongest metal known to man, and bronze… bronze…"

He waited, but judging from her glare she wasn't about to find the answer any time soon. He decided to give her a hint. "What have I told you about bronze? What do they use it for?"

"They use it mostly for boat and ship fitting for its salt and corrosion resistance."

"So based on that, what do you expect I would use the new upgraded modules for?"

"…Deep sea operations, possibly in waters with high salt content." A thought suddenly occurred to her. "Are they for… Atlantians?"

Slade had told her about the merpeople who lived in the sunken city in the Pacific. He'd said that many of them were advanced race that had found ways to control water through telekinetic power. Though why he would choose to attack them was still a question to her.

His eyebrow rose at that question. "You think I want to attack underwater beings? What motive would I have to do that?"

The question had been phrased very carefully. He had not answered her but responded with another quiz question. She racked her brain to figure it out. "Um… maybe… they have something you require for an important plot?"

He looked at her and there was a smile on his face. "Very good. But is that my only motive?"

"Um… yes I think so."

"Are you sure…" It was more than just a simple quiz question. He was testing her.

"Well… if it were for a client you would be going down there yourself to conduct the assassination to make sure there were no slipups. But these parts were for robotic duplicates, not armor. So you are either going to retrieve something or going for another reason other than to kill someone."

"And what would another reason be?"

Wren sighed, she couldn't think anymore. "I do not know sir."

Slade looked slightly disappointed but shrugged. "And you were doing so well. Still you managed to figure out most of it." He went silent when Wren assumed he would explain more.

"Are you going to tell me your other reason?"

"No." He said, making a turn and parking the car. "I'll let you figure that out for yourself."

Wren looked at the place where they had stopped. It was a tall building with a green and yellow striped awning that read Carlos's in big elegant lettering.

Wren was curious about this place but didn't press for answers. Slade would tell her if it was important. She followed him inside and was greeted by the scent of food. There were people seated at booths and tables. It was professional but friendly too.

So this was a restaurant, she realized. Technically this was the first restaurant she had ever been to. The sight was interesting. Slade walked forward and met the man at a podium. "Reservation for Steele please."

The man grabbed two menus and led them to a table near the back. Wren sat down without a word and their waitress came a moment later. She was blond with a Southern Mississippi accent.

"Good afternoon, folks, my name is Lesley and I'll be your server for today." She looked at Wren who was staring at her with an unemotional expression. The woman smiled brightly. "Well look at you. You're awfully cute. Will we be needing a kid's menu today?"

"No." Slade said simply.

"Alrighty. Is there anything I can get you to drink while you're looking over the menu?"

Wren paused. "Water I guess."

Slade smiled a bit, "She'll have a Sprite and I'll take a coffee."

The waitress made a quick note on her pad and left to get their drinks. Wren stared at Slade as he looked over his menu.

"So why are we here?"

Slade peered at her and answered simply. "We're here because I'm hungry."

She was surprised. Somehow, she expected some cryptic sort of reasoning for being here. Perhaps meeting a client or fulfilling an assignment. Without much left to her, she stared at her own menu. She wasn't quite sure what she wanted. In the end she ordered chicken strips and fries while Slade chose the steak special.

This felt so odd. Unnatural. The noise from the other tables made Wren turn in her seat and study the other customers curiously. She saw a family of five; a mother, a father, a girl, and two boys. The mother and father were discussing a problem with an overzealous neighbor and the boys and girl were arguing over who would win in a fight; Starfire or Stargirl?

Her gaze switched over to an elderly couple who were sharing a basket of fries. It moved quickly over to a pair of waitresses who were complaining about an irritating customer they both had to deal with. Then it turned to the sound of the cook's bell and the man behind the counter who suddenly shouted, "Order up."

Her attention couldn't stay on one thing for too long. Everything seemed to capture her attention only to let it be drawn somewhere else.

"What are you thinking?" Slade suddenly asked her.

She looked at him, a little taken aback. "Everything is so… busy, sir." She said at last.

"What do you think of that?"

She shrugged. "It is… much different from our normal meals."

He smiled and their food came the next minute.

Slade suddenly had the distinct feeling they were being watched. His head didn't move an inch to observe the surrounding tables, but he was able to maneuver his knife around just barely to catch a glimpse of the culprit responsible. He was sitting three tables away in a booth, but his eyes were definitely on the two of them. Slade recognized the man. He was an underling to one of Slade's competitors; Oren Grey. He was known mostly for smuggling and trafficking but occasionally the two would cross paths, which sometimes happened in the crime industry.

They'd had their occasional clashes between each other, with Slade always coming out on top during their bouts. Slade knew that the man still held a grudge over him for a recent burglary he'd intervened on. Grey had been meaning to steal a valuable weapon's chip and Slade had beaten him to the punch. After that one, Grey had vowed revenge on Slade for his interference on his operation. Slade hadn't even wasted a care to worry about it. Grey was an utter moron. There was little he could do to even touch Slade.

He didn't feel as certain now, though. He glanced over at Wren who was concentrating on her food, wanting to finish it all.

Slade's eye narrowed back to the reflection in his knife. The underling's eyes weren't on Slade's back as he had expected, but turned to his little apprentice next to him. He felt his gut twist slightly. Casually, he urged Wren to finish her food quickly while he paid the bill. After that they left.

Driving down the road again, his eye caught on a black Buick following steadily behind. The windows were tinted to hide the driver. He turned at a random corner and the car pursued.

_Following me with a kid in my car_, Slade thought, glancing in the rearview mirror,_ now you're just pissing me off_.

His eye swerved to the light ahead as it turned yellow. _Moment of truth_, he thought as he accelerated to beat the red. _Keep following or risk getting a ticket._

He missed the red light by a second but the car kept following even still. A red car to the left slammed hard into the black and there was an intense crash that reverberated through his steering wheel.

Wren turned in her seat, surprised by the noise. "Master, did you see that?"

"Yeah, that's what happens when you do stupid things."

Wren looked at him and looked back at the car. A thoughtful look entered her. "Did you plan for that?"

Slade paused. Wren was a very intuitive child for her age. Just the way he taught her to be. He felt a sense of pride enter him and he allowed a small smirk on his face. "Perhaps."

Wren wasn't sure if she was supposed to be impressed or scared… or maybe both. She had just watched her master manipulate a traffic accident. She had seen him do things like this before but never this… indirect. He could kill a person without touching them or even drawing a weapon. The thought sent a shiver up her spine.

She expected they would go home after that, but once more she was surprised when Slade stopped and parked the car at what appeared to be a small carnival going on. She looked at Slade.

"Don't get too excited. We're just stopping here for a small errand."

Wren nodded. They were here for a short errand and that was it. Nothing more than a short errand.

It was like Wren wished she had a dozen more eyes. Everything was so bright and colorful and active, unlike the estate. There she was constantly surrounded by robots. Other than Slade and occasional clients that came to visit, there really wasn't any other human contact that she was exposed to. Being raised by robots may have turned her into one.

They stopped at what appeared to be a fortuneteller booth. They weren't here to foresee their futures, was what Wren knew. If anything this woman was a contact of some sort, or Slade was inquiring the whereabouts of a person, place, or thing. Her master spoke to a woman while Wren waited off to the side. She listened in case he quizzed her again, but their conversation wasn't in any language that she knew of. From what she could tell, this wasn't some palm-reading meeting that they were discussing. This was all business, but other than that, she couldn't tell what else it could be about. Eventually her gaze drifted to the side before it was snatched up by something else.

Slade turned back, disappointed and angry by the woman's words, but stopped dead, suddenly. It was like any other missing child's case. His back had been turned for no longer than a minute. Yet in that short amount of time, the little girl that had been with him had vanished from the spot he had left her. He didn't move, but his eye turned here and there in search of a trace of her. His gut got tight when he didn't catch her anywhere.

If Wren had stepped away, she would have come back shortly. A minute went by and she didn't appear. Could she have gotten lost? The thought seemed absurd. Slade had made sure that she could memorize her surroundings and navigate her way out of any situation even if she didn't know the landscaping of an area. With that in mind, it left only one other explanation.

Kidnap.

Something (could it be… panic?) rose in him as his gaze swept over the crowds of people.

If Wren had been a normal little girl, anyone of them would have been capable of taking her without his notice. However, Wren wasn't normal. She knew the pressure points on a person's body. She knew how to defend herself. She knew how to get away from someone if they held her against her will. She knew all of that; so not just _anyone_ could have taken her without him at least noticing.

Unless they already knew who her master was and held a grudge against him for that.

_Grey!_ He thought instantly. Could he really be able to get Wren? Could he really be capable of taking her so easily?

The answer to that was _yes_.

The man might've been an amateur at stealing, but trafficking was definitely his strong point. All his men knew what to look for, when to strike, how to heard prey into a perfect situation for kidnapping. Even if Wren had been trained to fight, by the best assassin in the world, she was still only a child. An adult with only minimum experience at fighting would be enough to take her, so long as he was built large enough.

His phone vibrated in his pocket suddenly. He whipped it out and discovered he had a new text message. Without waiting, he opened the message.

TOLD YOU I'D GET EVEN

He stared at it. His mind worked quickly. Whoever had sent this text, whether it was Grey or one of his drones, would be dead in the next hour if Slade had anything to do with it. And whoever sent it… was looking at him right now. His eye moved this way and that, trying to see something hidden to other people; something no one could see if they weren't looking for it.

He spotted what he was looking for. There! A man speaking on a cellphone. He was putting on an air of relaxation but so clearly looking right at Slade. He already knew the cellphone bit was a front. There were multiple ways one could tell without needing to hear the played conversation. Without waiting, he vanished in the crowd.

The man on the restaurant patio looked here and there in surprise. Slade had disappeared right into thin air… and he'd looked right at him before he'd gone.

Feeling panicked, the man got up from his chair and walked down the boardwalk calmly. If Slade hadn't figured it out yet, then he didn't want to alert him any sooner.

He passed by an opening between a pair of tall booths and a hand shot out at him. He was on the ground and pinned between a boot the next minute. Great!

"Honestly," Slade said sadly. "Is there no honor among thieves?" He grabbed the man and threw him into a wall. "Grey must have some nerve to even _think_ of taking what belongs to me." He hissed, punching the man and slamming his back hard on the ground. "He should've done better to hide his drones if he wished to mess with me, which just goes to show you what kind of an idiot he really is." Slade grabbed a fistful of his shirt and looked him square in the eye. The man looked rightfully terrified at this point. A pistol with a muffler was held in Slade's hand in an instant. "In about three seconds you're going to be just another one of the poor homicide cases in the country. Unfortunately, the killer won't ever be found. Corse it couldn't hurt your chances if you tell me were Grey is and what he's done with _my_ apprentice."

"He… he… never tells us where he's going or where he's at. He just gives us orders and we follow them, simple as that."

_So he's not all stupid, _Slade thought. "And my apprentice?"

"The way I see it, he'll probably sell her. Probably to someone who can afford the price he'll put on her… meaning super rich folks. That or he might hawk her off as a payback gift to someone he owes."

"Which would be?"

"I dunno as far as payback. But the price for Deathstroke's apprentice—possibly sixty grand… maybe more than that."

That could mean quite a few people in the criminal network could buy her. Somehow he expected Wren would be worth quite a bit more than that. He wondered if they knew just how special Wren really was.

He released his hold on the man and he fell to the ground. He breathed, seemingly relieved to have gotten away. Slade pointed the pistol at his head. The man looked stunned. "Y-you said you'd let me go."

"I said it couldn't hurt your chances." He corrected simply. The blow was soft… almost silent as the man fell back, quite dead.

Slade shuffled through the dead man's pockets and took out his cell phone. Maybe Grey wasn't a complete idiot but this man certainly was. Slade could easily trace the last calls he'd made on this thing to their receiving sources, thus leading him to Grey and in turn to Wren as well.


	3. Chapter 2 Skeletons in the Closet

**This was originally going to be part of chapter 1 but it was so long that I had to shorten it up somehow. **

**I do not own Batman, Deathstroke, or Nightwing, or Starfire, or Cyborg, or Teen Titans, or… Oh hell with it, everything is from DC Comics and Warner Bros… Except for Oren Grey. He's my character and he kinda sucks.**

* * *

**Chapter 3  
Skeletons in the Closet**

Wren's eyes opened wearily. Her head lifted but all she saw was darkness. While the dizziness in her own head wore off, she took the moment to test her other senses carefully. So far as hearing and smelling were concerned, there was nothing there but her own breathing. She moved her hands and felt a cold, flat metal floor. There was also an echo. She was in a metal box or a cell or something.

She moved back, hitting a wall with her foot. She stood and used the barrier to guide herself around the room. Slowly she made her way through it without bumping into things as she feared she would. She estimated that the cell couldn't have been more than maybe six feet in diameter and it was completely bare so far as she could tell from the darkness.

She slid to the ground and brought her hands up to circulate some heat through her bare arms. It was quite cold in there, and it didn't help that she was all alone. She brought her knees up and hugged herself. She knew panicking would only make the situation worse but somehow she couldn't stop her heart from gradually speeding up as horrible after horrible thought entered her. To keep herself from losing it completely, she tried to analyze the situation as Slade had taught her to do.

A few things that she did know:

1. The last thing she remembered was the carnival and standing behind her master before a sharp pain—sort of like a needle—pricked her in the neck and the rest of the world faded into black.

2. She did not remember a thing as she was being kidnapped.

3. Her prison consisted mainly of cold hard metal and there was no light to speak of. That being said, the kidnappers meant to disorient her in the darkness. Perhaps they knew her master and what kind of a threat she could become if they dared to underestimate her, which would explain the manner in which they had taken to imprison her.

4. She expected that this kidnapping was not done out of random selection. If it was, then she was certain that they would have apprehended her through a different means other than to take her off guard.

5. And finally, she had yet to meet her kidnappers, but whoever they were, she expected that their intentions for her were not simply monetary or physical. Perhaps revenge on her master? That seemed the likely probability; since he had told her before that he had quite a number of enemies on both sides of the law.

She leaned back, a bit more at ease about the situation. She'd been able to figure out that much, but it didn't mean she was no longer worried. If anything, she was more uncertain for what would happen to her and what these people would do with her. If she was worth anything to them she would be sold, if not, then she was as good as dead.

Still, the fact that they had yet to kill Wren was evidence enough to suggest that they had other plans for her; if not for the reasons she'd stated then none she knew about.

Wren sat in the darkness alone and silent. Occasionally she would drift in and out of sleep for lack of anything better to do. Her stomach growled suddenly, making her jump at the unexpected sound. It echoed loudly in the empty chamber and she placed a palm over it in the hopes of maybe quieting it somewhat.

Perhaps her kidnappers wished to starve her to death, for amusement. The thought seemed absurd and yet reasonable too.

She desperately hoped that someone would come around soon or she would lose her mind to boredom and loneliness.

At last, the door squeaked loudly opened and a bright ray of light streamed in. She held her hand up to shield her eyes as the painful light blinded her momentarily.

"Face the wall," a man said in the doorway. "Hands behind your back and don't even think about moving."

Wren did as she was told. There was no point in fighting if she knew she wasn't likely to win. Especially when she knew so little about the situation she was in and a good portion of what she expected to be true was guesswork.

She felt the man come closer and she tensed, feeling his hands as they bound her wrists with handcuffs. His hand steered her towards the door then down a long corridor and up a flight of stairs to a nicer part of what appeared to be a penthouse to an apartment building.

They stopped at a door and Wren was led inside. The scent of food immediately reached her and her mouth watered with hunger. A well-dressed man was seated across from her at a dinner table lined with food. He smiled when he saw her and Wren hesitated. She did not like that smile and did not want to go near that man. But her escort shoved at her back and she stumbled forward against her will.

She stood and looked at him from across the table.

"You must be hungry." The man said with a note in his voice that sounded like amusement.

Wren's face was unreadable. She knew what her master would say if she were stupid enough to actually accept any food from these people. But she was very hungry…

Something in the man's face changed for a moment when she didn't answer. Whatever it was, though, was gone the next moment. "Why don't you sit down?" He nodded to a chair next to him.

Wren didn't move. "Do you intend to have me eat without the use of hands?"

Without a word, the man nodded to the underling behind her and he un-cuffed her hands only to re-cuff them again in front of her. Her dexterity was limited but at least she would be able to use them enough to handle a spoon.

The underling put a hand on her shoulder and led her to the chair beside the other man. She sat without struggling.

"Make no mistake," he said scooping some food onto his plate. "You may be nothing more than a child, but I don't intend to take any chances with you." He turned and bit into a piece of lamb chop. "My name is Oren Grey."

Wren knew the name well. Her master had sometimes spoken of the crime lord, though not all of what he'd said had been very flattering. He was a madman and was supposedly a very poor business owner. The man saw the recognition on her face.

"You've heard of me."

"Yes."

"All good things I hope?" He said twirling red wine in a tall glass.

Wren thought carefully. Slade had always said that the way you tell the truth without actually telling the truth was important for any transaction. She thought her words over carefully as she responded to his question. "It rather depends on what you consider good things."

Oren Grey glared at her but her face made no indication as to what she had meant by those words. He shrugged and continued. "So what are you to that man?"

Wren looked confused. "That man?"

"Slade…" Oren hissed. Something in him changed instantly by the mention of her master's name. His face twisted into one of fury and he stabbed his lamb chop repeatedly as he hissed the name over and over again. "Slade! Slade! SLADE…" Wren was a taken aback by his outburst, and more than little wary of him now. She stared at him as though uncertain if he wouldn't stab something else with that knife. Least it confirmed her suspicions about her kidnapping. This was most definitely acted upon revenge.

When Oren Grey 's fit was over, he straightened and turned back to his food. "Sorry you had to see that. So what are you, his daughter or something?"

Wren paused a moment before answering him. Had he sounded… hopeful somehow? "No. We are not blood related so far as I am aware of. I am just his apprentice."

"You're his student?" The man seemed surprised. "I didn't know Slade had one again."

Again? Her master had had other apprentices? That thought surprised her for some odd reason. She had been under the impression that she had been the first ward he had ever kept.

"So do you think he will he come for you?"

"Uh…" to be honest she wasn't quite sure about that. Did he value her enough to attempt a rescue mission? Her instinct told her that he would, but another suggested that he would probably want her to get away on her own.

"Well…" The man waited for her answer.

"Possibly…"

He choked on his food and she caught a trace of outrage as he blurted at her. "Possibly? So you don't even know?"

She looked a little embarrassed. "This is the first time I have ever been kidnapped, sir." She explained.

His eyes narrowed but he couldn't seem to see any bluff in her face. "Pity you don't know for sure."

Wren stared blankly at him as he continued with his meal. "Excuse me, but what are your intensions, exactly? When my usefulness has run its course how do you intend to dispose of me?" She talked about it like an adult… or more specifically, like a robot; as though the thought that she could be killed didn't appear to frighten her much at all. In retrospect, she was handling her abduction more calmly than many adults did anyways.

Or perhaps she wasn't worried because there was nothing to be worried about.

Just then, another underling came up and spoke in Oren's ear. "Sir, you have a phone call."

Oren looked angry to have been interrupted merely because of a phone call. "Who is it?"

The man's voice went very low, but somehow Wren still managed to hear the words that were meant only for Oren. "It's Black Mask."

Her eyes widened. Black Mask? That was serious. Slade had her once to do a report on him. She had looked up anything and everything she could find on the crime lord, occasionally hacking into some very private documents. It had been a challenge, but eventually she had found out nearly everything about him, much, much more than he would have probably liked anyone to know about him.

To summarize:

**Real name:** Roman Sionis.  
**History:** Carelessly dropped on his head as a newborn by the doctor. Parents had been self-absorbed in their high social status of Gotham City. He grew up and eventually killed his parents in arson during a fit of rage. Lost everything in his business empire. Blamed the world for his tragedy. Had his face melted off into a gruesome black skull, which inspired him to don a new persona etc…

It was all very sad; a simple tragedy that created the monster today, like so many other monsters in the world.

Slade had given her a B for her report, saying that it was acceptable in view of his history but she had only focused _partially_ on his existing practices today. If this had been intelligence gathered for an assassination, she would only have made it so-so. With that in mind, he instructed her to work harder on her next report.

She watched as Oren got up and went to where the phone call was waiting for him.

Even after, Oren had closed the door behind him, Wren still managed to catch most of the conversation.

His voice shook as he answered the phone. "This is Grey."

"Grey," came a harsh frightening voice. "My shipments. You failed to deliver my shipments!"

"I know sir. But we had a little… complication. The chip we were to apprehend from Star Labs was stolen by another thief."

"What other thief?!" Black Mask shouted, making the underling cringe. "You never mentioned this before. Now my operation is being set back by several weeks!"

"I know, sir. I promise I'll make it up to you."

"Oh really? How do you expect to make it up to me without the chip?"

"I will get you the chip." Grey assured him. "And I'll send you the thief's head on a platter." Wren's eyes narrowed at that announcement. He was an even bigger fool than assumed if he thought he could actually _kill_ her master. "As an addition, I'm also willing to send you Deathstroke's apprentice… as a present."

That made Wren's eyebrow lift a bit.

Black Mask paused in thought. "Deathstroke has an apprentice?"

Grey smiled, finding the right leverage. "Yes. It was quite a shock to me as well. He's managed to keep her a secret for quite some time if I'm to believe."

"It's a she?"

"Yes. Quite the mature little thing, too. Didn't at all panic when she was in the cell so far as I know."

"How old?"

"Couldn't be much older than eight or seven at the most. Still, she managed to surprise me by just how adult she's acting about this whole thing."

"You know I hate kids, Grey… if she were older then maybe."

"Oh trust me. I've only talked to her for a few minutes, but I'm certain she'd be something you could enjoy. And if not, she might prove to be an excellent apprentice for yourself. After all, you know how the Terminator only goes for the best."

"You're boring me, Grey. I've no interest in apprentices. Still… it sounds intriguing."

"Right, and if she doesn't please you, there's always the quick way to get rid of her."

So they would kill her if nothing else. Wren's eyes narrowed in thought. _Let them try._

"Alright, you have five days to fix your error. By then, if I don't have my prizes, _your_ head will take that place on the platter with an apple in your mouth. Is that clear?"

"Chrystal clear sir."

"Good!" And like that, the line went dead.

Wren watched as he came back in. She hadn't moved from her spot as Grey looked back at her. He looked up at the man behind her and nodded with an unspoken command.

Before she even had the chance to struggle, a damp rag was placed over her mouth and she was suddenly breathing in the heavy fumes. For the second time in twenty-four hours her head fell back into the threads of unconsciousness.

* * *

It was pure elementary for Slade to trace back the last call made by the underling's cell phone to a penthouse at the Glass Tower Apartment Building. He climbed up easily, without the use of tools or ropes of any kind. When he reached an opened window, he slipped in and listened for any sound. He must've been still for little over ten seconds before he finally decided that no one would be coming this way anytime soon. As silently as a fish through water, Slade made his way through the penthouse, seeing and hearing no one.

All the lights were on and it seemed as though the occupants had left in a bit of a rush. He came to a dining room and saw the table lined with food. It was still warm.

Something caught his eye suddenly. On an empty plate was a note being held down by a silver hair clip; He recognized it as the same clip that had been in Wren's hair that morning.

He picked up the note and read Grey's quick handwriting.

The Railroad

Dusk

Bring the chip

Slade growled. So this wasn't just revenge. This was ransom. Well he had no intention of handing over what he rightfully took himself, but neither would he allow them to make off with his apprentice.

He turned, meaning to leave, but was surprised when his foot caught on what felt like a string.

"DAMN!"

He ran out of the room before the beeping could start and leapt out the window. He had hardly been airborne before the explosion sounded and shook the building. He could feel the heat of the fire and blast of the explosion even through his armor. It was short lived as the rush of air hit him when he felt the ground rise to meet him at a hundred miles per hour. Slade twisted in the air and shot a grappling hook to a different building. The sudden change in direction gave him whiplash, but he was over it in an instant as he swung his body back round another tall building.

He stood at the edge of a fire escape as he looked up at the burning penthouse, clearly surprised. He had not been expecting that—and from Grey of all people.

"Well that was certainly unexpected." He said, glancing at the flames through the eye of his mask. Maybe Grey had more than a grudge on him after all. Even with the surprise of that action, it certainly wasn't enough to scare Slade into submission. Not even close.

If Grey thought Slade would back off because of a stupid bomb, he was in for a serious wake up call. He would most definitely meet Grey at the docks, but it wouldn't be on Grey's terms. Slade had more than enough surprises up his sleeve.

He stood for a moment, watching as fire trucks arrived to put out the flames before it could get any more serious.

Slade mused over the irony of this whole situation. He'd been first to kidnap Wren from Nightwing and Starfire and now someone else had kidnapped her right out from under his nose. It was poetic justice to say the least. Still, he couldn't help but feel somewhat sorry for Wren. How awful it must be to be that helpless in each situation. And both times it had been the sins of the father that she had to pay for.

However, unlike Nightwing, who had done a rather poor job at trying to find his child and the one to take her, Slade wasn't about to stop till he had her back with him again… even if it meant he had to kill a few people.

* * *

Wren's eyes opened slowly. She blinked and felt cloth against her face and realized suddenly she was in a large, heavy, canvas bag. She tested her motor use and found that her arms were bound again behind her back, but her feet were free. She wiggled, feeling the opening of the bag pressing against her head, probably tied off with a rope. She pushed at it till she could feel it beginning to give way. Suddenly, she felt huge, strong arms lifting her up. She struggled but he shook her and she was again still over his shoulder.

She tried to pay attention with her other senses, to try and get a pinpoint as to where exactly she was. She heard the voices of her captors.

"So where are we taking this one?" said the man who held her.

"To Gotham." Answered another. "We'll be shipping her out with the rest of the shipment. Just make sure you mark her away from the others. She's a special gift for Black Mask. So don't damage her, whatever you do."

Wren struggled harder, trying to get the bag to open somewhat and get a fresh breath of air in, at best. At last, she got it and cool wind immediately soothed her sweating face.

She could now see they were in a secluded parking lot in the rattier part of town, by the looks of it.

She could see four men gathered in a circle behind the man whom already held her and three cars parked around them. She looked for other people; for someone to help her. There! She spotted a man with red hair walking casually down the street.

"HE—," She began before her mouth was quickly covered by another man.

"Damn brat!" He hissed, tying a gag over her mouth and silencing her cries. He tied the end of the bag back off and she felt herself being dumped in the trunk of a car. The door banged shut above and she lied alone in darkness.

She struggled harder now, trying to once more rid herself of the claustrophobic bag. She got it untied again and sat up as far as the limited space would allow her to, shaking it off of her head. It took a little maneuvering, but she eventually kicked the bag completely off. With that done, she turned to the hood of the trunk. She could definitely tell from the interior that this car was an old model, twenty to twenty-five years if anything. If applied with just enough force she might have been able to pop the hood off.

There was no emergency handle so she resolved to kicking at it in the hopes of weakening the old hinges somewhat. She felt it creak and loosen. A minute of this and she heard one of the men pound on the hood, yelling at her to "stop it and shut up."

One more strong kick was all it would take. Wren took a breath and drew her legs back in preparation. She snapped them up quickly and the trunk flew open as she had intended. She prepared for an attack but there was none that came. Her guard had been leaning down to the trunk, attempting to hear if there would be anymore movement from the prisoner inside. When the door snapped up unexpectedly, it had brained him hard enough to knock him unconscious and give him a bloody nose.

Wren stared at the man on the ground. She carefully stepped over him as she emerged from her prison. It was difficult to move without the use of her hands but she was thankful that her captors had at least neglected to tie off her legs.

She chose a direction that looked the most promising and began running, keeping close to the walls and taking care to look for hidden cameras or guards around each corner. At last, she reached the end of the yard where she spotted a high chain linked fence. If she could get her hands out from behind her she'd be able to climb over it and at least get someone to—

She was thrown off her feet abruptly when a hand descended on her and threw her halfway across the lot. She collided with a transport container and the wind was knocked out of her. She fell on her hands, still bound behind her, and feeling them smart with the impact. At least they weren't broken, that much she could tell for sure.

When her head stopped spinning, she looked up at who had tossed her and saw one very large man pounding a fist in his palm and starting towards her.

Wren got to her feet, ignoring the pain in her back and arms. Slade had always told her to stand and fight. Fighting meant everything to him, but not so much as winning. If she were to fight, she had to win as well.

Wren calculated the best approach to win against this man. If her intentions were to attack, his legs and head were the places to do it. The things to avoid were most certainly his arms, where most of his strength looked to be. It would be difficult to formulate an attack against him without the use of her hands, but not impossible. This is where her shortness came in handy. Instead of thinking of her petite figure as a weakness, she could use it as an advantage. Smaller person meant smaller target. If she kept his attention on the ground, try to tire him out at the very least by dodging his assaults, she stood a chance at winning.

He started forward, reaching towards her to grab a fistful of hair. She dodged quickly in between his legs, kicking at his shin as she did so. He yelped at the strength of her kick and hopped on a foot, massaging the leg she'd struck.

"Little Slade Brat." He said in a stunningly deep voice.

She waited as he made his next move at her. She dodged again, swerving her body around his and landed a strong kick on the back of his knee. Her blow brought him kneeling on the ground.

She didn't wait but turned in the air, throwing a hard blow at the back of his head, where she knew it would leave him unconscious. Just as expected, he fell over on the ground without making another move.

Wren turned her attention back to the fence. Now how to climb it? She needed to be quick about it before someone else came looking for them. She glanced around and saw boxcars and other junk surrounding her. She saw her route and backed up, needing to get a running start.

Once she was sure of her path, she ran. Her foot used a garbage can to lift her to a broken cement steeple and she used that in turn to launch herself on a container. She ran as fast as she could and when there was no more iron to run on, she leaped, turning her body in a flip as she landed in a roll on the opposite side of the fence.

She looked over and saw the man she'd thwarted beginning to stir. Rather than waiting to see what he would do, Wren chose a path and began running as fast as she could.

* * *

Grey stood at the corner of the train yard with the large chain linked fence at his back and the road at his front. A dozen or so men, armed and ready surrounded him. He too was armed, and there was a bulletproof vest hidden under his clothes. He wasn't about to take any chances with Deathstroke, that was for sure.

At last, a black car appeared in the distance. He saw someone getting out of the seat and was pleased to see it was Slade. He was wearing his armor and mask as always.

Grey's eyes flitted to the sniper hidden in a tower of boxcars a few ways off. He promised Black Mask he would get him the thief's head. Somehow he wished he could be there when Black Mask discovered who the thief had actually been. This would be incredibly satisfying to Grey. Deathstroke had been a thorn in his side for long enough. With his death, Grey's reputation would spike like nothing before. One of the greatest assassins in the world and it had been Grey to take him down.

The thought sent a delightful chill through him.

Slade stood as still as if he were nothing but a mannequin.

Grey was the first one to speak. "Do you have it?"

Wordlessly, Slade took a bright blue chip out of one of his side pockets and held it up for all to see. Without a sound or a move from anyone, the sniper took his shot when he caught sight of the chip. Slade fell to the side as the bullet punctured his metal mask and exited through the opposite side.

When it was a sure sign that he wasn't getting back up, Grey nodded to one of the men beside him and he obediently left to test his pulse. A minute passed before the man stood up and shouted over.

"Yup, he's dead."

Grey let out a relieved breath to that announcement. He felt himself swell with pride at the conclusion. He'd done it at last; Slade was dead. A deadly threat obliterated and he'd been the one to trap him into it.

His triumph was short lived as out of nowhere, one of his men was thrown to the side. Blood spurted from his throat and Grey turned just in time to see… Slade! Alive and very clearly not over…

He twisted to where Slade had been most certainly shot. Whoever, or whatever had been the one to take the shot was up, pulling a knife out of the chest of the man he'd sent to check that Slade was really dead. Now the man was the one lying limp and lifeless on the ground. Grey growled with fury.

Such a great plan and Slade had ruined it once more.

He grabbed the gun at his side and began firing away at the Slade nearest to him.

"DAMN YOU!" He shouted.

Slade grabbed Grey's own men and put them in line of his firing, causing him to kill them that much quicker. For the ones that he dispersed himself, he appeared as something like that off of a horror movie villain.

Nothing harmed him.

Nothing slowed him.

Nothing stopped him.

In a matter of seconds, the entire lot was cleared of all life other than the two Slades and Grey, who was frantically clicking away at his now empty pistol. The nearest Slade approached him. Without so much as an effort, he gripped the man's wrist and, in a simple twist, dislocated his shoulder from the socket.

The man screamed in rage and fell to the ground. Slade towered over him, and though Grey couldn't see his face, he could tell the man was dually furious.

"Did you actually think that a fool like you could stand to pull off such a pathetic trap on someone like me?" He hissed, sliding a long machete out from the sheath strapped to his back. "You insult me to even _think_ I would be that duped! I'm not one of the greatest assassins in the world, Grey; I AM the greatest assassin in the world! And you honestly thought that a sniper would stop me?" He pointed his sword at the man's throat, allowing the smallest incision to be made. Grey gasped as a small trickle of blood dripped down past his collarbone.

"I'll only ask you once; Where. Is. My. Apprentice?"

Grey glared, getting over his fear of Slade in an instant. He smiled, knowing that if nothing else, he could at least get some pleasure by seeing the man's disbelief towards his answer. "For the moment she's on her way to see Black Mask. Not quite sure what he'll do to her, but I hear he likes his women… young."

Slade felt a growl rise in his throat. Despite the fact that Grey had meant the remark to get Slade furious about the client whom he was sending her to and _what_ he was planning to use her for, (and that was slightly one of the reasons that steamed him) what infuriated him most was the city he'd chosen to send her to. Slade could not allow Wren to go to Gotham; to the place where her birthfather and grandfather reigned supreme over all others. It was more than likely that she would indeed meet them there, and his great plan, which he'd plotted for over a decade, would all come crashing down in complete ruin.

Enraged, he drew his blade back and prepared to plunge it into the man when the radio at Grey's side interrupted him. "Boss! The girl got away! She took out Big Jonno and is headed back into the city. We'll try to cut her off before she gets to the outskirts."

Slade's eye swiveled back to Grey who had turned a pasty shade of white. Apparently he hadn't meant that thing to be on at that moment.

Slade felt a sense of pride enter him at the knowledge that Wren had managed to take out one of their larger men with being as young and small as she was. Well, she had been trained by the best after all. He smiled under his mask and glanced at Grey smugly. "That's my girl."

A slice in the air wrenched the air, and Grey's blood drenched the ground the next moment.

* * *

Wren ran as fast as she could. Her hands were still stubbornly behind her back but despite that, she was able to reach the city. Now if she could just find something, or someone, to get the cuffs off she might be able to lose these men. Then once things were safe enough for her, she could once again go and find her master. She had no doubt that he would be able to handle himself against that man Grey. He seemed somewhat incompetent to her, and the things Slade had told her about him made her doubt even stronger.

She turned a corner and ran smack into a leg. Arms grabbed her and held her suspended from the ground. She kicked out, trying to connect with something

No!

Wren did the only thing she could at that point. She screamed as loud as she could. She didn't often raise her voice and the scream felt quite unnatural to her, but in view of the circumstances, she didn't have a whole lot of other options.

"Shut her up!"

A hand slapped over her mouth but she still attempted to thrash, screaming into the gag. She watched as one of them brought out a syringe: Another sedative by the looks of it.

_Great!_

She struggled harder as the man came towards her.

"Hey," announced a voice from behind them. They all turned to see a tall man in a bright red and gold costume. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size? Like me for example."

Wren recognized the Flash immediately and so did the men apparently.

"Hell! It's the Flash!"

"Shoot him!"

In an instant the man who had been standing in front of them just a moment before was leaning languidly against a wall at the opposite end.

"Come on," The man said, studying his nails with boredom. "You're looking at the fastest man alive. I outrun bullets."

They ignored his comment and took aim once more. He was against a garbage can the next minute. He liked to toy with them, Wren noticed, immediately. She had no doubt that he could've ended this in an instant, but where was the fun in that, apparently? It lasted for little over a minute before the Hero, at last, grabbed one of their guns and slammed it into a man. In a flash (pun intended) he'd dispersed of the men easily in a pile of unconscious bodies on the ground.

"And that's how you take the trash out." The man said, standing proudly over the criminals with his hands propped on his hips.

Wren was surprised to find herself standing alone on the ground without the binding arms of her captors around her. Her knees were trembling and she was having a difficult time standing alone. It dawned on her suddenly that she… was in shock.

She was never shocked. True, she was wary and cautious at times, and this day's events had frightened her (to a small degree), but being truly and completely disturbed was… troubling.

The Flash turned his attention to her just as she began to fall to her knees. He caught her before she hit the ground and she trembled against his careful hands. His expression softened towards her. "Hey, are you okay? You're not hurt are you?" She didn't answer as she was lost in her own thoughts. He reached over and gently removed the cuffs on her hands. She brought them up to her chest and rubbed them tenderly, happy to be free of the tight, restricting metal. The cuffs had really been starting to hurt as her skin became raw rubbing against it. She kept her eyes on the ground as the superhero knelt next to her. His face was filled with concern as he tried to keep her calm.

"Hey, where are your parents? Why were those guys after you?"

Wren's mouth felt dry and she couldn't' talk for some reason. She shook her head for lack of anything better to do.

Flash shrugged, not appearing to be bothered by her muteness. "That's okay. We can go to the police station and they'll probably know what to do. Is it alright if I pick you up?"

Wren looked at him. Why would he wish… then she remembered that he probably wanted to run there. She wasn't sure if she could handle his speed just now. Not right after…

She shook her head and said. "I think I would prefer it better if we walked, so long as that is not too much trouble."

Flash looked surprised; either by her diction when she was so young or the fact that she'd refused his offer. He shook it off and stood, holding his hand out to help her up. She took it and was on her feet quickly. It was surprising when he didn't shrug her off the way she was used to. He just kept holding her hand. Master Slade never held her hand. The feeling was foreign to her, but somehow nice, too.

"So what's your name?" Flash asked, apparently trying to ease the tension.

"Wren." She answered simply.

"Do you have a last name?"

"Steele." She said, using the alias Slade had used to sign for his shipments and the lunch reservation. "And you are the Flash." She added, gradually coming out of her shock.

"Yup, that's me."

She was silent as they walked. Flash assumed she would say more but she was very quiet.

"So, what's your dad's name… or your mom?"

Wren looked up at him. "I do not know. I no longer live with my parents."

"Oh well…" Flash responded, feeling a little embarrassed. "Do you have an aunt or a grandma?"

"My ma—,"

"Wren!" The two of them turned to see Slade, dressed in regular clothes, and walking down the street towards them. He had a look of relief on his face at the sight of her unharmed. Wren had never seen that expression before. Had he been worried about her?

"Thank goodness you're alright." He said when reaching them. He turned his attention to Flash, displaying a smile on his face, which Wren assumed was for show rather than sincere. "Thank you for your help, sir."

Flash smiled back, "No problem, man. Always happy to help." He seemed just a bit guarded from handing Wren over to him just yet though. "Are you her dad, or some sort of relative?"

"I'm her father, yes."

Wren's gaze widened. It was the first time he had ever said that; the very first time.

"But she said that she doesn't live with her parents." He compared the two and saw that they looked absolutely nothing alike. Between Slade's blond, almost white hair, and Wren's unruly black hair as well as the difference in skin tone as well as eye shape and color, he doubted that they were really blood related.

"She doesn't, no. Not her real parents at least." Slade explained. "I adopted her when she was an infant."

"Oh." Flash said. He still looked a little wary of this man. "Did you know that some men were after her?" Slade's face changed into one of surprise and horror. It was very good, if Wren didn't know he was acting. Flash continued. "By any chance do you know why they wanted her?"

Slade shook his head. "Your guess is as good as mine. I lost her at a book store. I went out looking for her, thinking that she must've just wandered off. Guess she went farther than that."

Flash looked at her. "Is that was happened?"

She nodded. If Slade had said it, she knew she was supposed to back him up.

The two men turned to Wren and Slade held his hand out for her to take. That was very, very unlike him. "We'd better get going. It's almost dinner time." Wren moved her hand from Flash's to Slade's. Before she'd let Flash's go, though, she squeezed it gently, a silent message to him. What it was exactly, the superhero couldn't tell.

Flash stood watching the two walk away. Wren turned, halfway down the block, to cast him a woebegone look from her eyes. Those big blue eyes felt familiar to him somehow. He couldn't explain where he'd seen them before, but they were there and they were big and they were speaking to him; telling him something that he just didn't understand.

He felt he should follow them but that would make him late for his dinner plans with Jinx, even going at his fastest speed. He was already thirty seconds late.

They disappeared from sight when they turned a corner the next minute. He walked in the opposite direction, trying to put it out of his mind.

He didn't quite know why he was making it into such a big deal. If the girl didn't want to go with the man, then she would have said so. Right? And she hadn't struggled when she was walking away. And she had backed him up with his story. But somehow, it just didn't feel right.

Flash suddenly wished he had the brain power of Nightwing right now. If it had been Nightwing or some other detective, then he could've been able to tell right off the bat if there was something wrong going on there.

But no matter what he did, the nagging doubt remained. Finally he stopped dead in his tracks. Fine! He would follow them until he got something. He ran in the direction that they had gone, but by that time they'd already disappeared. He sighed, feeling guilty for waiting so long to follow after. Now, if the girl was really in trouble, he wouldn't be able to help her.

* * *

As Wren was exchanging hands, the difference in grasps was immediate. Though Flash was like a force to be reckoned with when it came to fighting, the way he held her hand was extremely unlike what she had expected. In his grasp she had felt the concern from him at once. He didn't even know her, knew nothing about her, and yet the way he held her hand, so carefully and caringly. She could honestly feel the warmth of it radiating off him, as though he did it very often.

In Slade's hand though, she could tell that it was just as unusual for him as her. There wasn't the care that was in Flash's, and instead of comfort, there was something else; something that didn't feel like he was attempting to comfort, but more like he was catching.

They walked together in silence. Slade liked silence and normally Wren wasn't too bothered by it, but this somehow unnerved her. She wished he would say something. After all, she had just been kidnapped. Didn't that mean something? At last he looked down at her.

"You shouldn't wander off." His voice was filled with… nothing. Just like everything in her life. Nothing.

She hadn't wandered off. She had been taken. Even with that in mind, she nodded. She looked at her hand and tugged it out of his grip. He didn't want to really hold it, so why bother? He looked down at her, surprised by her indifference.

"I am sorry for inconveniencing you, Master. Next time I will try harder not to be taken away." There was just the faintest hint of resentment in her voice, but overall it sounded sincere. She was being honest and submissive. Taking the blame for what had happened, though in truth she had done nothing to cause it.

Slade glanced behind him, feeling as if someone were following them or about to follow them. Wordlessly, he steered them into an empty ally. Before she knew it, Wren was in his arms and he was jumping into the bars of a fire escape. In a matter of seconds they were on the roof opposite.

Wren didn't know why they had decided to do that, but habit kept her from questioning her master, so she just went along with it.

Reaching the car again, they both got in without a word. Wren was exhausted by this time. She'd accompanied her master to observe armored parts, they had had lunch, she'd followed him to a meeting with a fortune teller, she'd been kidnapped, stuffed in a bag, handcuffed, beaten up and so forth. All in all, it had been a very filling day for a eight-year-old. So no one could blame her when she'd fallen asleep right in the car as they were driving under the starlit sky.

* * *

**Yay! Got this chapter up. Now I can start with the fun stuff.**

**Thanks to everyone who liked my story. Please review. It's really encouraging and seriously makes me hop up and down every time I see a new one.**


	4. Chapter 3 the Knight vs the Squire

**I love this chapter! For one thing because it has a cameo of one of my favorite Batman character.**

**I wanted to incorporate a meeting between Wren and Damian since both their backstories share similarities and I based most of Wren's childhood on what Damian went through while his mother was raising him. Actually this scene came as something of a last minute change after reading Batman and Robin #0 of the New 52, and I just couldn't resist the irony.**

* * *

**Chapter 3  
The Knight vs. the Squire**

Wren's trips into numerous cities became something of a ritual as she accompanied her master to observe parts, meet with clients, and perform errands. Most of these trips she was to wait silently until her master required her services. She wasn't to interrupt or speak unless spoken to and she made sure that she didn't disobey that order for even a moment.

In regards to her training, Slade seemed to be upping the level every other week. He watched Wren's progress, and though she wasn't failing the levels, there was no style in her, no drive to win. She won merely because he'd instructed her to do so. She needed something to make her want it, but she didn't seem to want anything. That alone troubled him.

It dawned on him that what she may be missing was a companion of some sort. Someone her own age whom she could share a bond with. Perhaps a student in the Hive; one of the younger ones would be substantial to fill that void. Now that he thought of it though, there was one boy that came to mind that might have been the perfect acquaintance for her.

* * *

"Wren."

She looked up, instantly alert when her master spoke to her. This was just another of those fieldtrips he sometimes brought her on. This one happened to lead them to Pakistan to meet with one of his many business partners. They met her in one of her large estates and were led into a lavishly furnished sitting room as they waited for their hostess to finish with a prior engagement.

When the time was right, a butler came and announced she was ready for them. They followed him out into a hall were the woman was speaking with a boy estimated to be a year older than Wren herself. The woman was incredibly beautiful with long flowing brown hair, brown eyes, and a perfect figure. The boy was a few inches taller than Wren herself and had the same raven black hair as her own, with the only difference that it was tamer than hers. His eyes were also the same color, but a much different shape.

"Master Slade Wilson and his apprentice, Wren Steele." The butler announced in a nasally unemotional voice.

"Thank you, Rorrick." The woman said, straightening up. The butler left after that and the newcomers waited as their hostess spoke warmly to them. "Welcome, Slade. I'm pleased to meet you finally. I've been looking forward to this meeting for a time now."

"Likewise, Talia. I was disappointed to hear the news about your father. Sorry I was unable to be there for the funeral."

"Yes indeed, he lived a full life." Wren detected a trace of amusement behind her words. Of course she already knew plenty about the woman Talia Al Ghul and her Father Ra's Al Ghul. Five hundred years is indeed quite a full life. "I almost forgot. This is my son, Damian, the future Al Ghul."

The boy stepped forward, mirroring Wren's stance. He didn't say anything for a moment, but when it seemed apparent that words were expected, he nodded to them. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Indeed, and this is my apprentice, Wren Steele."

She nodded politely to both the strangers as Damian had done.

"I believe there was some business we were eager to discuss." Slade announced

"Indeed." Talia turned to her son. "Damian, perhaps you would care to entertain our gest for the moment."

He looked up, slightly surprised, and for a moment Wren thought that he might refuse, but he looked back towards her and jerked his head, gesturing her to follow. She sneaked one glance towards her master to be sure it was alright. When he nodded with approval she followed.

* * *

"So this is one of our trophy rooms." He announced, swinging open a door and stepping aside to let her through. She looked around the various stuffed heads and items gathered from the furthest corners of the world. Her eyes rose to look up at a great white shark suspended by cables and frozen to look as though it were about to take a great bite out of them.

"I killed that myself." The boy said with traces of pride.

"Impressive." Wren announced. "I once killed a crocodile on a trip to Africa with my master."

"I've still yet to get one of those," Damian announced, "but it seemed a little… small fry after I got that."

Wren's brow lowered somewhat. He had just insulted her, even without emotion she knew that much. "So does your mother train you often?"

"If every waking moment means often to you… then yes."

"That is… fulfilling."

"I like to think so."

Silence stretched between them. This felt odd… and uncomfortable. What was Wren supposed to do? Were they to make conversation? Do they speak more about trophies? That seemed good so she stuck with that.

"Are all the items in here yours?"

"Yes."

"And you collected them yourself?"

"Yes."

"Did you stuff them all as well?"

"No. There are others to do that for me."

"Oh." Wren felt slightly smug to hear that. Slade had taught her how to stuff her prizes adequately. She had that in her favor at least. So while he was bagging great whites, she was busy stuffing her crocodiles.

"Forgive me," Wren said carefully, "but is it permissible if I ask you how old you are?"

"It's fine. And you don't have to talk like that."

"Talk like what."

"Like that." He announced with annoyance. "Pronouncing every word. What are you; an alien?"

"No. This is simply the way I speak."

"Really? Ok." But it didn't sound like it was "ok". Wren wondered what she had done wrong by simply speaking in her normal manner. "To answer your question, I'm nine. I'll be ten in a month."

"That is nice. I will be nine soon as well. I suspect I can expect another dual. Master and I have one annually to demonstrate all that I have learned that year."

"You do that as well?" He sounded surprised and she mirrored it.

"You go through the same exercise with your mother?"

"Same as you. Every year on my birthday. This year I'm turning ten and I've decided to beat her this time."

"You have decided? Wait… you have never won?"

"Against my mother; no. But it'll be different this year. I am going to beat her this year."

He sounded sincerely determined, something she had only seen in her master. Wren never gave much thought to winning. She pushed herself to extremes simply because her master ordered it, and what he ordered, she obeyed. It was as simple as that. Seeing the hunger for conquest in the boy felt different. Was she supposed to feel that desire as passionately as he did?

"Have you ever won against Slade?"

She blinked, startled momentarily to hear him speaking. Thinking quickly, she shook her head in answer. "No. Like you I have never managed to thwart my mentor."

"Tough luck for us, but maybe this year will be different for both of us."

"Yes. Maybe…"

They made their way from one trophy to the next, keeping up the conversation as they walked down. "You live with your master right?"

"Of course."

"So I guess you don't know who your parents are right?"

"I was abandoned and forgotten about by my mother." She said with the faintest trace of bitterness. "That is all I need to know about them."

"That's quite harsh… what she did to you I mean."

"I do not think too much on it. I know what I am and that is adequate enough for me."

"Likewise. I was born to rule, raised since birth for it, and that's exactly what I intend to do. Yet I have an undeniable need to discover the identity of my father. Where you're content with lingering in the mystery of your ancestry, I crave my paternal history like no other." His fist clenched into a tight ball as he swore his lifelong oath. "I **will** learn the truth of him and when I do, I'm going to vanquish him."

"I wish you luck then." Wren said blankly. In all honesty she wasn't quite sure if she cared if he found his father or not. She had been taught the exact opposite from him. She felt no need to discover who her parents were or where they were from or any microscopic detail at all. She knew all she needed to know about them. That they didn't care enough to keep her and she didn't care enough to learn of them.

They were dead as far as she was concerned.

Yet there were times when she found herself imagining them, or at least imagining what might have happened the night they gave her up. Slade didn't elaborate on the details but it didn't keep her from interpreting it herself.

_A cold early spring night; rainy, because it seemed more dismal to her that way. A hooded woman… maybe a teenager, which might explain her haste and desperation to get rid of the infant. A dirty city alley which was a prime location to dump a body… or an undesirable child, in Wren's case. A cardboard box lined with moth-eaten towels, because she wasn't worth a basket or proper insulation._

_The move would be quick. The woman would stoop, dump, then leave, with hardly a second glance back. And Wren… or whatever he name was before she was found, would stay there completely forgotten. Noticing that she was suddenly alone, she would cry out, wanting attention and protection from the cold and rain._

_Just then a man would walk by, a younger Slade, dressed as a civilian and going about his merry way, not at all expecting to cross paths with an abandoned child. At first he would walk by, ignoring the baby's insistent cries. But then, perhaps, something would breach the walls guarded around his heart and he would stop, turn, and approach the baby. At first he would stop to examine her, wondering if he was right by doing this, before finally picking her up._

"_Hush." He would order her. And just like that, she would obey him; because that was what she was supposed to do._

Give or take, that basically was how she envisioned it. Perhaps there was more to it… or perhaps it was nothing like what happened, but with so little to stand on, she had to make do with creating the scene on her own.

They walked on through the estate, Damian speaking every now and then about various rooms and artifacts and his ancestors. Some was quite interesting, but there were certain subjects he brought up that held no interest to her at all, and she found herself wishing that her master would hasten his business with Talia already. She felt that Damian was doing his best to impress her, but all that she really felt was boredom of hearing about his grandfather and divine superior family heritage. He seemed pretty set that he would someday rule the world.

_We'll see about that_, she thought with amusement. Her master had somewhat similar aspirations, as did many other less capable villains of the day.

It was somewhat amusing to her (if there was anything that mused her at all). All these people were scrambling after the same scrap of meat, yet none seemed any closer to attaining it despite theirendless struggle towards it. With systematized superhero organizations like the Justice League, Doom Patrol, and Teen Titans, the likelihood of any one super villain to manage getting the rest of the world under his or her boot was less than likely.

If ordered, though, Wren would follow her master to the death in order to accomplish it. Whatever he wanted so she would seek it.

* * *

"Tell me truthfully." Talia said, spotting the two children cross the courtyard to another part of the estate. "Who is that child? I'm perfectly aware that she can't possibly be yours. And if I recall correctly there was quite a large disturbance a few years ago when the daughter of a well-known adversary of yours seemed to have vanished right off the face of the earth. He went around saying that an old nemesis did it, too… Deathstroke."

Slade smirked, leaning against the comfortably leather couch. "It's no surprise, or secret among friends." Slade said. "You've already figured it out, so is further confirmation necessary?"

"True," Talia said, eyeing the children and where they were headed, "though admittance from one's own mouth is somewhat satisfying."

"Indeed. And while we're confirming our suspicions, perhaps you wouldn't mind telling me who the father is to that young boy of yours."

Talia paused to turn and look at him. Her face betrayed no emotion, yet he could tell she was surprised he would know such a thing.

He smirked and continued. "Don't think I'm as blind as others would be. The Dark Knight is indeed an awe-inspiring opponent. I've fought him myself."

"…And lost." Talia added with pleasure.

"A feat that is mutual between us." He retorted.

He could sense her resentment towards that statement. "The greatest battle is yet to come, and my son will be in the lead of the march that will triumph all." She was determined and sincere in her beliefs and Slade found it rather amusing. "And father or not, batman will kneel in his presence."

"You sound determined. Is your son really that good?"

"Better even than your _stolen goods_." Talia jeered, which earned her a glare from Slade when he knew she was referring to Wren. "But perhaps you would care for a demonstration?"

"Better." Slade said smirking cryptically. "My girl against your boy. Let us see which indeed is the best of both."

"The son of Batman verses the daughter of Nightwing. It is hardly a competition, Slade. We all know that in the end, the knight will always vanquish the squire."

"He is only spawn of the Knight, Talia. Don't think he is best simply for that fact."

* * *

"A fight between the two of you." Talia announced. They all stood in a clearing on the estate grounds with the full moon as their only light source. The two children stood facing their mentors as Talia announced the rules for this dual. "This is purely an exercise to test your skills as warriors and nothing more. Despite your upbringing, there is to be no killing. Understood."

She seemed to be talking mostly to Damian, as if she expected him to take it to that level. Wren had never killed a person before, but she had needlessly demolished piles of Sladebots; a human life was no different (or so she was told). And if told by her master, she would kill this boy without a second thought.

"Understood." They each repeated automatically.

They faced each other across the field. They had been granted boestaffs in this fight, but nothing more. It seemed their students were far too valuable to allow permanent damage to either of them. But each of them knew that everything could be used as a deadly weapon, as did their mentors. Yet they allowed them these killing tools even still.

"You were pleasant company while it lasted." Damian said. "However, I know you don't care a cent about winning."

"True." She responded, handling her staff with precision. "I feel no real satisfaction with winning, the way others hunger and bleed for it. But if ordered by my master, then I **will** beat you. That is just fact."

He smirked with interest and their fight began. They were like streaks across the courtyard. Two evenly matched opponents, neither willing nor capable of losing. The wood smacked hard against the other, echoing against the walls of the estate and filling the otherwise silent courtyard. Both were fighting for the same thing and neither was allowed to lose because of it.

Both Slade and Talia watched the rivalry, each wondering and fearing who would win. The children seemed evenly matched. Damian had the drop on her with age and experience, but Wren (though she didn't know it) had her mother's alien genes to aid her for speed and strength as well as agility.

Slade wondered vacantly if this time she would get angry enough to create the starbolts he had been curious to see since he began her training. As he watched on, it seemed increasingly unlikely. Her face betrayed no sense of emotion, despite the frustrated frown on Damian. She was completely pushed by her master's order and nothing more.

The hours ticked by. Perhaps the children would tire before a true victor would be called. A light gray could be seen on the horizon and within half an hour the sun would be raising.

"It's time to end this." Damian declared. Despite his resilience, grey circles had made their way under his eyes.

"Indeed." Wren responded, with much the same look on her face.

Their bostaffs had been discarded some hours before, one broken and one lost. Unexpectedly Damian unsheathed a hidden knife, swiping it furiously at the girl.

She dodged just a second too late. The blade sang deep into her cheek and she jerked away, startled by the shining metal.

"How honorable," she announced at the sight of the metal. "Nothing like concealing a blade in a dual of staffs. You do your mother proud."

"In a fight to the death, only one thing matters; who is dead and who is not. Whether you use a knife or a stick to accomplish that makes no difference."

"Well despite our mentors insistence that we keep from slaying one another, it is true that I would feel no regrets about killing you."

By that announcement, he rushed at her, and her eye caught on something then. Rather than dodge to the side to avoid his weapon, she rolled towards him and dodged between his legs. She rose behind him, swinging her fist towards his head. He reacted and gripped her wrist, throwing her over him in the process. She landed on her back and he pinned her quickly, pressing the blade to her jugular. With one twitch from either of them and she would be dead in ten seconds.

Damian breathed, successful at last. "I win." He announced triumphantly.

"Are you sure about that?"

He looked curious for a moment then felt her own hidden weapon and where it was pressed. The tip of broken staff, sharpened into a stake, was pressed dangerously under his ribs, slanting up where it could puncture several of his vital organs.

"This match is obviously a draw." Wren stated, "But if I am ordered, I will kill you now."

"Enough." Talia and Slade answered in unison.

"The dual is over."

"You both loose."

The children got to their feet and faced their mentors, who shared similar looks of disapproval.

"For trickery and disobeying direct orders this match is a draw for each of you."

Both the children were appalled.

"Disobeying?" Wren cried. "But master, surly I did everything you asked of me."

"You intended to kill him. Your orders were to not."

"And you." Talia said lowly to her son. "You concealed a weapon that you were not given. A disgraceful act in an honorable battle."

"I am only doing what you have taught me since birth, mother. Hidden weapon or not, the only thing that matters in the end is who is alive and who isn't."

"Then you clearly have not learned. Expect that you will be going over many more exercises on the meaning of restraint later on."

"You can expect the same." Slade told Wren.

After that, both the children were led away, no doubt to receive their punishments for going overboard. Yet in Wren's case they were headed back home.

As they flew on their plane, Slade made a note to find a new companion for his apprentice. Perhaps Wren would do better with a girl, instead. The boy Damian seemed far too similar to her and he didn't truly want anything to emerge between the daughter of Nightwing and son of Batman, for though not technically related, it felt indecent to pair an uncle with his adopted niece.

* * *

Wren sat and listened as the girl prattled on about a foolish boy she had a crush on. This… encounter that Slade had prepared was becoming progressively more and more pointless as the hours slipped by. Slade had instructed her to attempt to bond with the nine-year-old girl called Blaze. Somehow, it was very hard to accomplish. More so than anything else he had probably commanded of her.

Tell her to leap over the head of an oncoming attacker. Tell her to do fifty pushups on her knuckles. Tell her to run through the reflex simulation on the highest level. But please don't ask her to attempt girl-talk with this… _child_!

She couldn't seem to understand the reason for his casting her with random children. After Damian, she had partly expected that to be the last of it. But somehow as the months had progressed he had seemed displeased by her unchanged behavior. She couldn't guess what for, though. But one way or another, he had insisted upon this conference and she would push through it, just as she had done with that brat of a boy.

"And then he called me annoying!" Blaze cried with outrage, coating red paint on her fingernails. She'd given paint to Wren as well and the girl applied it as she'd seen Blaze do it. If this is what her master meant by "bonding" then she would do it. Although, she failed to see as to why the paint was so important in this meeting. Blaze went on. "Can you believe that? So I decided to never talk to him again! It doesn't even matter really cuz there's this other boy in my class who's even better than him. He's kind of like a ghost boy because he can turn invisible and dive straight through solid objects. You know there was this one time…"

Wren sat silently as Blaze spoke through most of their conversation. She might as well have been a mannequin for the few words she was ever allowed to get in at a time.

"…so after that I decided to run away for a day."

Somehow that got a sound from Wren. "You ran away?" Such a thought seemed… absurd. Why would anyone wish to run away from the people who brought them up? True she suspected she would leave when she was of age, but that was over a decade from now. She couldn't even imagine leaving her master while she was so young. She'd always been here, at the estate, always by his side, doing whatever he asked of her.

The girl looked up. "Yes. Sometimes when I want to have some time alone, I'll run away for a day and do whatever I want in the city. I'd buy some lunch by the peer or hang out in a park or terrorize some children. Why? You've never done that?"

Wren shook her head.

The girl smiled in what felt like a smug way. "Well… I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. You're a bit of a daddy's girl aren't you?"

Wren felt an unfamiliar heat rise in her at the girl's remark. _Oh... this was anger_, she realized.

Slade had told her to try and bond with this child, but this felt completely unnecessary. "I do not have a daddy, only my master." She said in a stern voice. "And I do whatever he asks of me, which includes attempting to bond with an arrogant child during whatever this little meeting is supposed to be."

The girl looked stunned. "Are you saying you don't like me?"

"What a question?" Wren scoffed. "Even with your lack of attention it surprises me that you cannot figure that one out for yourself?"

She looked outraged. Without another word, Blaze grabbed up the nail paint that she had brought with her to this meeting and moved to a different part of the room. Wren got up as well and moved to her desk where she began the homework Slade had assigned for her that morning. They were blueprints of levels of security for different buildings; advanced, though not really for her.

Yet the last thing they had discussed got Wren concentrating on something other than the blueprints. The girl had run away. Why would anyone ever do that? It seemed so… unnatural. But then again everything Blaze had said or discussed seemed unnatural.

Then, at last, after three hours of this horrible meeting, the girl left with the guardian she came with. Wren felt a sigh of relief leave her as the door shut after them.

At dinner, Slade wanted to know what she thought of the meeting.

Wren's face was blank as she hid her displeasure. "She was very talkative." She answered simply. "Or at least for the first few hours."

"Did you get along?"

"Well enough." Then Wren sighed as she confessed. "I am sorry, sir, but I could not bond with her as you had instructed. She was very… difficult to appreciate."

Slade smiled a bit. He hadn't really expected the two to get along, especially since he'd overall thrown them together randomly. He had known that the two wouldn't go together from the start. Wren was so serious for a little girl and Blaze simply wasn't. It was actually clear from the get go that the play date would be a failure. Blaze's interests were completely different compared to Wren's… if Wren really even had any interests other than to do what she was told.

"Sir?" she said suddenly. Slade looked at her, waiting for her question. She looked at him uncertainly as if unsure her question would upset him or not. She seemed to falter and turned back to her food. "Never mind."

"What?" He insisted. It was so unusual for her to want anything.

Wren hesitated, unsure how she would phrase such a thing. "Is it alright if I… run away for a day?"

Slade was surprised. She'd never asked him for such a thing before. She had never asked him for much of anything before, mainly because she had never wanted anything before. Perhaps this was the drive he needed from her. "You… want to run away?"

"—For a day!" She said quickly.

"Where did you have in mind?"

"In the city maybe."

"And you want to spend it alone?"

"Yes, if that's not too much trouble."

Slade paused, letting himself think about it for a moment though he'd already made the decision. "When did you want to go?"

"Tomorrow?"

That was quite unexpected. Still, he expected that she deserved a little freedom once in a while. She was nine years old and she'd never had a chance to ever really be a child. "I suppose, though a bit more of a warning would be appreciated at times."

"Sorry. I was only thinking of it just this moment."

"I guess you work hard enough to have a day to yourself. Did you have anything in mind that you wanted to do?"

She shrugged. "I do not really know. Maybe walk around and tour the city. Possibly have lunch somewhere. What do people normally do on a day off?"

Slade shrugged. "Whatever you want. Though, I wouldn't recommend robbing a bank, if that's what you wanted."

"Robbing a bank is not something you do on whim, sir."

As if he needed her to tell _him_ that. Maybe a day to herself might help her understand the concept of sarcasm.

**End of Part 1**


	5. Chapter 4 to Run Away for a Day

**I love this chapter for several different reasons:**

**We introduce one very colorful character in this chapter, and in my opinion I'd say she's my second favorite next to Wren if not my favorite. And Wren has her first taste of real freedom thus getting the ball actually rolling with this story.**

**As always, all characters belong to DC Comics… even Wren who is actually Mar'i Grayson even if she doesn't know it. The only thing that belongs to me is Faye. When the day is over at least I still have her to be grateful for.**

* * *

**Spawn of the Titans**

**Part 2  
Quest**

**Chapter 4  
to Run away for a Day**

"Do you have your cellphone?"

"Yes."

"What time are you to be back home?"

"Six on the dot."

"You know what areas to stick around right?"

"Yes, though I do not quite understand why I must remain near the safer areas if I am perfectly capable of defending myself should the need arise."

"I just want you to keep a low profile. I don't need my apprentice stirring up trouble with the gangs and bringing about unwanted attention."

"Very well. I guess this is supposed to be an enjoyable trip anyways. I will try not to engage with anyone."

"Good." Slade stared at her in the car. He probably felt more nervous about this than her. It was the same feeling a parent got when they left their child on their very first day of school. "I guess you have a good time now."

"I hope to." She said. In truth this was just as nerve wracking for her. It was rare when she went somewhere without Slade, but this was something she sincerely wanted.

For a moment neither moved. Then Slade reached over and patted her once on the head as she turned to the door. "Then I guess… be good."

"Yes sir."

It was mild to say he wasn't a little nervous about letting her go out, but it wasn't like she wasn't coming back. It was foolish to feel like this. She was nine years old after all. It was high time she did something on her own. After all she had navigated herself

Walking around the city wasn't anything to worry over. She would have her day off and come back just like that.

Even with that in mind, why did he have such a gnawing feeling she wouldn't be coming back?

Well even if she landed into trouble, he would be able to track her fine enough. He had been sure to monitor the tracking device he had stored in her cell phone. Finding her wouldn't be a problem.

* * *

The city was a buzz of activity. People walked here and there, eager to stay on schedule and get to their destinations as quickly as possible.

Wren followed the crowd down town to Main Street, where the majority of activity was happening. She ventured here and there, visiting shops and looking at things with mild interest. She went into book, music, video, and clothing stores, studying everything with the same trivial curiosity. Once though, she had made the mistake of going into an adult bookstore without really thinking. Upon her entrance, she was escorted out almost immediately by the store manager. When she attempted to ask him what she had done to deserve eviction, he pointed to a sign above the store.

ABSOLUTELY NO ONE  
UNDER 18 YEARS OLD  
ARE PERMITTED INSIDE!

Realizing her mistake, she decided to simply walk away.

It was hard to decide what she ought to do for lunch. She was at a loss for what she had an appetite for yet finally decided on falafel, but only because it was the nearest thing to her. She ate her meal on a bench and looked up at the sky, wondering what she would do for the remainder of the day. She had exhausted most of her interest and had run out of store ideas to visit, not that she even truly wanted to buy anything. It was for window shopping mostly, though she had convinced herself to purchase a book mark that had caught her attention. It was a laminated one with a jeweled star charm dangling from a string at the end of it. The white silhouette of a small bird in midflight was positioned near the top left middle.

If she really liked much of anything besides pleasing her master, she liked stars and birds. She didn't know why, though. She thought at first that maybe they reminded her of something, but decided it was just a phase she might have been going through.

She eventually got up and started down the street once more. She considered returning early, in view that there was nothing much else she wanted to do.

It was then that Wren heard a shout from an alley. A girl a few years older than her was being herded against a wall by three tall, menacing boys. Wren frowned as a memory of a similar encounter filled her. She made her way up to the boys.

"Man, you boyz be trippin. Ya'll don't wanna mess with me." The girl used a very thick gang slang when speaking.

But the boys didn't back off. Wren approached them from behind without a sound. "You should not do that." She said emotionlessly.

The three turned to her but didn't look impressed. In fact their attention now seemed to be centered all on her now. "Hey look. Another little girl who wants to loan us some cash."

Another one scoffed. "That's about all she'll be good for. She's not very cute, 'at's for sure."

She felt nothing with his insult but continued to stare with her emotionless expression.

The first one smiled, coming towards her. "Awe that's not true. She can still be useful for one or two things."

"I would not recommend it." Wren said. In her mind she was evaluating them, deciding the best ways to take them out. The three exchanged glances but continued forward. The first one made to grab her but before he could make contact, Wren seized his arm and kicked his legs out from under him. He landed with a slam on his back. The other two rushed at her. She used the second one's momentum against him and sidestepped him easily while bringing out a leg and tripping him. He landed on his face and blood poured from his nose. She flipped over the third one. When he looked back to see where she went, her fist punched forward and drove into his face. He yelped as blood spouted from the side of his nose.

"You little…" The first one got up and grabbed a large can of something. Wren dodged as the heavy can swung at her. It didn't stop as it knocked against a pole and dislodged it from whatever platform it was holding up. Wren felt something black and stinking, slosh on top of her. It clung to her hair and skin, making it hard to breath and hard to move. She suddenly felt fire light up inside her chest.

Her clothes! Her hair! Ruined!

He swung again but she dodged under his arm and the next thing the boy knew, the heal of her hand came up and smashed against his chin. He spat and a tooth clinked to the ground. That caused big pathetic tears to tip from his eyes and he ran off with his two lackeys following close behind.

"Monster!" They yelled, running away like frightened sheep.

"Pathetic." Wren stated as they fled from her like infants.

The girl they'd been stalking, beforehand, ran up and grabbed the bucket that had spilled on top of Wren and threw it at the boys. "Hey, guys, ya forgot this!" They ducked and kept running even after she'd insulted them by yelling, "Pussies!"

At last the girl turned to Wren and she had a real look at who she just saved. Wren estimated her age to be about thirteen or fourteen. She had dark skin and black hair tied in hundreds of thin cornrows and pulled out of her face with a green bandana. She wore a blue denim mini skirt with a white sleeveless t-shirt, a red leather jacket and tall cowgirl boots. Colorful beads and necklaces hung around her neck and her ears sported big golden loop earrings.

Despite the ornaments, she was possibly the most beautiful girl, her age, Wren had ever seen.

"Yo, kid, thanks for the help." She said walking over. "Nice arm you got there."

Automatically, Wren answered back with, "Thank you."

She noted the black tarlike substance clinging to Wren's clothes and skin and picked at her jacket with disgust. "We'd betta find ya a shower t' wash off. Don't wanna have that stuff dryin' on ya."

She took Wren by the hand and led her into an abandoned hotel building. They turned into an overall empty room where a sleeping area was set up. Other than the twin mattress, blankets and food wrappers, the room was nothing else in the room.

"I've been stayin' here for a few days. It's a little drafty but the water still sorta runs." She led her into bathroom and turned the shower on for Wren. "Ya can wash in here. Yo threads are totally ruined, though, so we'll have to throw those out. I'll try and see if I can wrestle ya up some new ones."

And just like that, she left Wren to it. The apprentice blinked a few times with startled confusion. Had the girl just told her to take a show? In these conditions? Well it was either now or never. The stuff on her was starting to stink and dry to her skin. Without much choice left to her, Wren stripped and threw her clothes on the ground to clean the black stuff off of her.

When she came out, she found waiting for her, a fresh pair of jeans, a short-sleeved t-shirt, a hoody, and some shoes and socks. She put them on eagerly and met the girl in the other room.

She smiled at Wren and tugged on the sleeve of the sweater expertly. "I guess they're a little big on ya aren't they? But it was the best I could do on short notice. How do they feel on ya, girl?"

Wren shrugged. "Fine enough."

"That's good. It's the least I could do afta' ya saved my butt from those morons back there. Thanks again for 'at, girl."

"You are welcome." She answered emotionlessly.

The girl frowned at her as she studied the younger girl closer. "Say, ya can't be very old. Whada ya doin' round this part of the hood alone? I mean ya sure can handle yo'self easy enough, but even still…"

Wren looked away. "I… ran away for a day."

"Ha, no kiddin'?" The girl said with amusement. "Me too. Though not just for a day. I'm gunna join the circus."

Wren frowned curiously. "Circus?"

"Yeah. I'm gunna get on a train and travel to the nearest circus and join there. I already know how to juggle, walk on a tightrope (sorta), and throw knives. I'm hopin' 'at when I get there I'll be able to learn the trapeze. But the next train isn't due for another four hours. You wanna hang with me till then?"

"Hang?" Wren was stunned.

"Yeah," The girl said happily, grabbing her arm and leading her to some strange part of town. "It'll be fun."

Without much to do, Wren followed her, keeping up with her sprint easily.

"By the way, the name's Faye—ya know like the fairies."

"I'm Wren." Wren answered back.

"Like the bird?"

She nodded and the girl smiled with delight. "Hell, girl, 'at is a cute-ass name!"

Wren looked taken aback by the phrased words, but didn't seem to be offended as she followed her.

The day proceeded in a way unpredictable to her. She realized then that the reason she had lacked natural enjoyment for this venture was possibly because she required a companion to share in the delight.

They found an arcade and Wren played her first video game: Miss Pacman. It was… enjoyable, in short terms. When normally she wouldn't be concerned about winning or not, Faye made it exciting for her and for the first time she wanted to win just because she wanted it. She played three more times before Faye dragged her over to several other new games.

After an hour or so spent at the arcade, the two found their way to a hotdog stand and ordered some early dinner. That was where Wren discovered the delightful taste of _mustard_.

Faye tried to staunch her disgust as the little girl proceeded to drown her poor hotdog and bun in the yellow sauce till at last there was more mustard than really anything else. She ate it all happily. By the end of it, it seemed as if Wren really wanted more, or at least, more mustard that is. So she asked for several packets to suck on as they walked.

After their snack, they found their way down to the docks were they proceeded to skip rocks until they got bored and went to watch a pro baseball game from the branches of an overhanging tree. They enjoyed it up until a guard caught them and they had to make a dash for it back towards the hole they'd slipped through in the chain linked fence.

Wren found that she enjoyed Faye's company, despite her odd slang and language. She liked the strange disposition the older girl had for everything. So much different from Blaze or Damian. The carefree cheer she held was soothing to her, and as the day drew to a close, she felt a lightness enter her. One that she'd never felt the like of before.

Faye didn't seem to mind Wren's overall naiveté for simple things like common sports played or popular books and references. She seemed to actually enjoy telling her. Her explanation for things was very good and Wren seemed to be engrossed in every word. Faye's voice seemed just as captivating as Slade's, but in a new and foreign way that made her question and muse over everything she said. And instead of filling her with some inexplicable emptiness (though she knew that wasn't his intention) as he had, Faye filled Wren with something else.

As the sun set, the two found their way to the bridge to drink bottles of fizzy soda. A blissful smile crept on Wren's face as the two new friends watched the golden orb descend into the ocean.

"So what you runnin' away from?" Faye asked casually, sipping on her bottle of root beer.

"I was not running from anything." Wren answered. "I merely wanted to spend a day alone for a change."

"Is 'at all?"

"Yes. What about you? Are you running from something?"

"Ah, I suppose." Faye said. "I used t' be a victim of trafficking, but the Teen Titans saved me and a few otha girls. I was supposed to go to a foster home afta that, but I got away and I'm gunna live in show biz. What about you? Got any kin?"

"Not that I know of." She took a drink of her grape soda. "Master Slade is all that I have as far as I am aware of."

"Master Slade?" She looked displeased by those words. "What are ya', his slave?"

Wren looked stunned. "No, of course not. But I do belong to him. I am his apprentice after all."

"Apprentice? Ya mean like how the Jedi knights have apprentices?"

Wren's look was blank. "What are Jedi Knights? I have never heard this term before."

Faye was appalled. "You don't know what a Jedi Knight is? You be trippin, girl?" Wren shook her head. "Star Wars!" She cried, hoping that would sound familiar to the girl. Again she shook her head blankly. "What does that Slade guy teach ya? How can ya not know what Star Wars is?"

"Maybe my master did not think it was relevant to my studies."

"Not relevant!" Faye looked outraged. "Star Wars is completely relevant. It's one of the most used references in Pop Culture."

"Perhaps you would like to teach me what it is?"

Faye frowned. "Can't. The train will be here soon and I've gotta catch it. Ya wanna see me off?"

Wren was disappointed that her friend had to leave so soon but nodded and they walked to the tracks. The train wasn't moving, and for that Faye looked grateful. She opened the door to one of the boxcars and swung her bag inside before climbing up herself. She smiled down at Wren from her position.

"It was nice t' meet cha, Kiddo."

Wren felt a stabbing emptiness enter her gut. Today had been the most fun she'd ever remembered having in her life. The thought of returning back to her Master and work was depressing. "Please, will I ever… see you again?" That thought seemed somehow comforting to her.

Faye shrugged. "Maybe. If the circus is ever in town look me up on the trapeze or the juggler." She caught sight of the distress on the little girl's face and an idea formed on her face. "Hey, why don't cha come with me?"

Wren was stunned into complete silence. "Come? With you? But… Master Slade…"

"He's not the master of ya." Faye told her gently. "Girl, ya don't belong t' anyone, just as I neva belonged t' the people who took me for trafficking. No one is master of me. I'll decide my own fate and path and be damned if someone tries t' tell me different. Ya have that right too, ya know. I believe that people are their own, not owned, and no one on earth commands decides who I am but me."

Wren stepped back, a little frightened by the information. Faye had practically contradicted everything she'd been taught since birth. Slade had constantly reminded Wren that she was his, and no matter where she went, she would never escape that fact. She was owned… like a slave. Her every move was decided by him. It baffled her that she was allowed to get away with this one day to herself.

But Faye told her that no one owned her. No one chose her fate or path but her. No one. The thought was frightening… but somehow inspiring as well. She'd always known what she would be, Slade had chosen it for her, but had she really wanted to be his apprentice? Had she wanted the training he'd given her? Had she wanted to learn to fight and one day operate a criminal empire?

She suddenly recalled a picture book she'd been allowed to have; The Silly Side of Sherlock Holmes. After reading the funny little adventures, she'd announced that she wanted to become a detective like the hero of the stories. She wanted to be smart and stop crooks and such. After hearing that, Slade didn't look mad but patted her on the head. Somehow, the next day, her book had mysteriously vanished. After that, there was no more debate on what she would become when she was an adult. She was his apprentice and that was it.

But then a doubt entered her. If she meant so much to Slade, then why had it been up to her to rescue herself when she had been kidnapped by Grey and his men? Why had he not come for her? Why had he not tried to rescue her instead of making her rescue herself when she was no more than eight years old; a little girl; a child? And when he had found her with Flash, he had not attempted to comfort her or anything from her shock of such a frightening experience. If she truly meant so greatly to him, then why did he never show it?

Perhaps he did not really care if she left. Perhaps that was why he allowed her to run away… for a day…

Faye spoke on when Wren hadn't talked for a while. "Ya should come with me. The circus would probably take ya too. I can teach ya how to juggle and throw knives on the way and we can learn the trapeze together."

"But… I have never…"

Faye smiled reassuringly. "Me neither, but I bet with the two of us together, we'd be able to do it."

"Why are you asking me to come with you?" Wren blurted at last.

Faye frowned as if the answer should be obvious. "Because I like ya, of course."

"You… like me?" No one had ever said those words to her before. Faye liked her? The feeling was… unusual, but welcomed. "You like me?"

Faye looked a little taken aback by her response. "Yeah. I like ya a lot. Hasn't anyone ever told ya that they liked ya?"

Wren shook her head.

"Your Master seriously has never said that he likes you?"

Again Wren shook her head. Faye felt a pang of sympathy enter her gut for the younger girl. How could she have gone through life without someone saying, just once, that they liked her? Maybe that was why she acted so… closed and emotionally detached, compared to other children.

Suddenly the train gave a big lurch as it started forward. Faye looked at Wren who was slowly becoming smaller as the train took its time to accelerate.

"Ya better make a decision soon, girl." She said. "But if this is goodbye, then I hope we'll meet again someday."

Wren stayed rooted for a moment. A hole grew in her as she watched her friend moving away. Her feet took a step forward. Distantly she thought she could hear the disapproval of her master at what she was about to do. Somehow, the idea of her newfound friend leaving her was stronger than the fear of Slade.

"Wait!" She murmured frantically.

Her walk turned into a jog and her jog a sprint as she worked to keep up with the ever speeding train. Faye held her hand out and the two caught hold of the other's. The older one hoisted her up while the younger propelled her feet into a high jump. The next moment she was in the boxcar, sprawled over the other girl as the train quickly reached its potential speed.

Faye smiled. Wren admired that smile. "Well hi there, birdie! I'm glad ya decided t' come along."

Wren smiled back, liking the lightness that followed it. She felt as though an enormous burden had been lifted from her shoulders. A burden that had been with her all her life. She felt so happy, she could've floated.

It shocked her speechless when, at that moment, that was exactly what happened.

"What the—!" Faye cried as Wren began to hover a foot or so from off of her.

Wren gasped, and when she suddenly felt a weight of fear enter her, she crashed back on the ground.

Faye scrambled to her feet, stunned and a little scared of what had just happened. "W—what was that?"

Wren shook her head, equally clueless as to why she just began to hover randomly.

Instead of frightened as she partly expected Faye to be, the girl looked absolutely animated. "Ohmygosh! That was so cool. Girl, why didn't ya tell me ya had superpowers?"

"I was not aware that I even possessed any." Wren said honestly.

"This is the sweetest thing ever! Wren, can ya do anything else?" Wren shook her head, uncertainly. Faye didn't look bothered by it in the slightest. "At's okay. Your crucial decision must've awoken something dormant inside ya and allowed ya to open up that flighty sort of thingy you just did there. I read a lot of comic books so I know what I'm talking about. DAMN! I wonder if ya can go higher."

"Higher?"

Faye went on. "Have ya ever done anything like that before?"

Once more Wren shook her head. "No. Not ever."

"We'll work on 'at then. Oh this is _sweet_! We're going on a road trip to the circus and you can fly and everything is so wonderful right now."

Faye grinned, falling back on a pile of hay in the boxcar. Looking around, Wren saw that it was full of bales of hay everywhere. But there were no animals in there to be seen. Perhaps they were shipping the hay to farms, or intending to fill the car with animals once they had reached their destination, wherever that was.

The sun had at last gone down and the inside of the car was dark. Faye dug in her bag and withdrew a small lantern which she lit with a match. The light was small but sufficient for the two as they talked into the night about the circus and superpowers and Star Wars and anything else brought into conversation.

The one thing they didn't talk about was the one thing Wren was worried about most of all. She wondered if her master realized that she wasn't back yet.

_Probably._

She wondered if he would come out to look for her.

_Maybe_.

She wondered if he would bother trying to find her on any of the trains leaving the city.

_Perhaps._

Perhaps, this was a test for him as much as a test for her. Did he care enough to actually come looking for her? Part of her hoped he would, while another part hoped he wouldn't. She didn't fully understand her own conflict with those feelings. If he did then that meant that he cared about her enough to come looking for her, and if he didn't, it meant she didn't need to return to him and she could travel with her new friend for as long as she wanted.

But if he did proved that he cared enough to actually come after her, she had no doubt that he would most certainly find her.

Perhaps though, this was a rare occasion where he would miss something. The thought seemed ludicrous since that NEVER happened, but as the train sped down the tracks, she allowed the small bit of hope to enter her.

* * *

_She's not back yet_, he realized as the clock struck six pm.

He told her to be back by six on the dot. Where was she? She was not known to be late for anything. Yet, at the same time, this _was_ her first time out alone. Perhaps she had just been delayed. He allowed her five more minutes before he took out his phone and punched the speed dial for her number. For three minutes, it rung without any answer. Getting impatient, he switched on the tracking beacon. He caught her signal being displayed in an old hotel building he knew was scheduled for demolition. She wasn't moving.

He flipped on his smart phone and followed her signal for nine blocks. She hadn't moved an inch the whole time. He reached the building and followed the signal down a hall and into a room that had been recently lived in. There was a twin mattress on the floor where blankets and pillows were in disarray. He searched the room and found Wren's clothes in a pile by the sink of the bathroom. The tracking device was still in her jacket pocket. Judging from the tar that clung to them, he guessed that she must've removed them to wash off in the shower and acquired a new set from someone else, probably the person who lived here.

He searched the room and found a red plastic loop earring and an Archie Comic. So she was with a girl, most likely a runaway if she would stay in an abandoned hotel building.

His ear perked as he heard footsteps approaching. They were heavy, and he could detect them walking with sneakers on. A group of adolescent boys, probably. He hid in some shadows as the door swung open and three teenaged boys marched through. Gangsters, he realized from their clothes and slang.

"Bitch! Where you at?" One of them shouted pointing a gun in the room. For their sake, they had better not been referring to Wren. "I know you stayin' in here. Come out with yo hands up. You and that little pussy doll you hangin' wit."

"Forget it, dude," another said, coming out of the bathroom and finding it empty. "They not here. Looks like they left a few hours ago."

"Awe hell no. Can't believe we all got our asses whooped by a snotty little girl."

"Yo man," The third said, getting angry. "We agreed that there were ten of 'em and they were Kung Fu Chinese students."

"Please," Slade said, stepping out of the shadows where the boys could see him. Their guns instantly pointed at him "Kung Fu students? You insult me."

"Whoa dude, who da hell are you?"

Slade's eyebrow rose at the insulting choice of words. "I beg your pardon, but _who the hell_?" He moved so fast the teenagers didn't even see him until their friend's throat was in his grip. "You think you can talk to me like that?"

"Bitch, you'd better just put my homeboy down, ya'll." The first one said pointing a shaking gun at Slade's back. "Before I pump you up with more lead than a pencil. I ain't playin."

"Me neither." Again, Slade moved so fast they didn't have time to respond. In no more than ten seconds he'd apprehended all their weapons and had sent the boys rolling on the ground in pain.

"What the f—," Slade pointed one of the guns at his forehead before he even got the chance to finish.

"You know it's quite degrading when I have to soil my hands with weaklings and punks like you. Still, it's all with a reason."

"Who 'da hell are ya?"

Slade fired a warning shot that came inches away from missing his ear. He could feel the rush of air as it hit the floor. The boy looked scared enough to wet his pants. "There's that word again. Let's try talking with a little more decorum now. Shall we boys?"

The teens looked literally petrified at this point. The second boy spoke, using all the proper English his small little mind was composed of. "What—what do you want… sir?" He added the last part hastily.

"The girl who beat you idiots up," He said reaching into his jacket pocket and withdrew his cell phone which displayed a picture of Wren. "She didn't happen to be her now?"

"Yeah 'at's her alright."

"Where did she go?"

"We don't really know, homie." The boy said and Slade had to stop himself from rolling his eye at being called _homie_. "I mean we don't know what we did to inflict her wrath. We were just mindin' our own business and everthang, hanging out by the hood and beatboxin' wit our otha boys and then this girl with these like ninja-like abhilities comes up behind us all and attacks us for no probable cause. Right?"

"Right," the other's repeated.

Slade wasn't quite sure what annoyed him more; their language or the fact that they were lying right to his face; maybe both served to infuriate him to a degree.

He fired another shot close enough to graze the boy's cheek. The idiots threw their hands above their heads, screamed, and cowered under the pistol. "Another lie like that and it'll be your ears next." He hissed softly. "Now I want you to collect every ounce of brainpower your pathetic little heads can muster and tell me who she was with when she destroyed what little dignity you punks had left."

"It was probably around three or four hours ago. She was with a black girl, thirteen maybe fourteen years old. She had tall cowgirl boots and cornrows. She also had a green bandana tied over her head and loop earrings. We didn't catch her name."

"Do you know where they were heading?"

"No idea, man. I mean we found this place because she left a book of matches in the ally we saw her in."

Slade thought for a moment. "Anything else you can tell me?"

"We didn't touch either of them." The third one said frantically.

"Oh, I know you didn't." Slade purred. "Taking care of punks like you is child's play for my girl." He turned as though he would leave. The boys relaxed a bit before he paused and turned back to them abruptly. "Oh and by the way," he pointed the gun back at them and they all immediately froze. "She's not a pussy doll."

Three sudden bangs were all anyone heard from that building for the rest of the evening.

* * *

**Shorter chapter than what I've posted so far, but still pretty lengthy, I think. **

**Trying to write gang slang is hard. **

**Thanks for your support and reviews. **


	6. Chapter 5 When Life Gives You Lemons

**This chapter was really difficult for me for some reason. I didn't want to post it actually until I had worked out all the time lapses needed for this fic as well as figured out the span their journey would take them over the country. It was tough but once I actually had an idea about in what sort of direction their story was going it was all downhill from there. **

**I'd also like to thank all you people for taking time to review. Seriously you have no idea how much I look forward to those. I jump up and down like a puppy every time I see a new one in my inbox.**

**So here it is:**

**Chapter 6  
When Life Gives You Lemons**

"Hey Birdie, come on. Let's git goin'." Someone shook her shoulder gently and Wren was awake the next minute.

"Yes sir?" She sat up blinking.

For a moment, she forgot where she was. She had been so convinced that it had all been nothing more than a dream, but then again she never had dreams while she slept, or at least, none that she could remember in the morning to come.

She saw Faye looking down at her with a vexed expression. "Uh… I'm a _miss_." She informed matter-of-factly.

Wren nodded and she got up, missing the humor Faye had intended that to be. The train was still moving but the door was wide opened just as it had been the previous evening. The morning sunshine blazed into the boxed room and Wren could feel the warmth of another spring morning.

Faye stretched, relishing in the golden rays. She knelt to the ground and pulled a map out of her bag, folding it out so that Wren could see it, too. She brought a marker out and began marking out the course they were going to take.

"Alright, from what I heard, it's the big season for the circuses right now, seein' as it's the beginnin' of spring already. I'm guessin' they be found mostly around the southern east coast at this time of year. At the moment this train is headed t' Taft. From there we can jump off and take a new train t' Mesa City. After 'at, we'll gradually make our way t' the coast and see if we can intercept them near Baltimore. It should take us about a week or two if we're lucky."

Wren nodded. "If we somehow manage to stop at a place with computers, I might be able to find out train schedules for the freights. That way we can board the sooner ones and save time on travel."

"Sounds like a plan." She rolled up the map and tucked it back into her bag. Standing up, she looked over the side of the train and spotted their drop off point coming up.

"Alright, Birdie, you ready t' jump?"

Wren studied the moving earth below them. The speed of the train was decreasing and in time it would be safe for the two to dismount. She frowned at the moving earth below them.

"When you jump, whatever you do, do not land on your feet. Roll so you are less likely to twist an ankle."

"Will do." Faye said. A patch of tall grass was coming up soon, providing them with a cushion for their landing. "Alright time t' go."

Faye leapt first and Wren followed, rolling as she had instructed.

When they'd recovered from the landing, Faye got up and waved the train goodbye. "Thanks for the ride!" She yelled at the disappearing boxcars.

The two headed down a road that lead into the city.

"How much money have ya got?" Faye asked when both their stomachs growled in unison.

Wren dug in her pocket and withdrew several bills. "Seven dollars. Excluding the credit card I left back in my jacket pocket at the hotel yesterday." She said sadly.

"You had a credit card? And left it?"

Wren shrugged. "My clothes were soiled and I suppose that may have caused my momentary lapse of absentmindedness."

"And I got eight fifty-two." Faye responded holding out four bills and seven coins. "That's not going to buy us a whole lot for breakfast."

"And we still have lunch and dinner to get through." Wren added. "I have to warn you, I have a bit of an appetite thanks to my Master. He always made sure I had enough to eat."

"Well there's no way we're going to be able t' afford fine dining on this trip. We'll have t' stretch it as far as we can manage. I wonder if we could find a dollar store somewhere. They usually sell some cheap food, though it's all pretty much junk."

"Maybe we could sell something?" Wren suggested.

"We don't got anything that would sell for all 'at much. However…" Faye stopped, suddenly striking an idea. "Come on. I got an idea." She grabbed Wren's hand and the two rushed down the street.

* * *

Wren frowned, looking down at the recently acquired glass pitcher. "Is it really permissible if we use this? It is not even ours."

"Trust me, girl, when I say this." Faye said mixing together juice mix, water, and sugar. "We are NOT stealin' this pitcher. We are BORROWIN' it. I have every intention of returnin' it t' its owners once we done with it."

Faye seemed to have discovered an answer to their financial needs as she went about explaining to Wren the concepts of a lemonade stand. "It's just a good way for kids to make money if their parents don't give them allowances."

"Have you done this before?"

She bobbed her head into a nod, "A few times here and there. Sometimes if I need some money, I just find a park with a lot of people and put on a show for them, but not the way that just sounded. You know just some throwing knives and juggling. I'd do the tightrope but ya need a really secure line for somethin' like 'at. One time I set up a stand for cornrows and I earned fifty dollars in three hours."

"You seem to know how to make money pretty honestly. Most children in your position would settle for stealing."

Faye stopped suddenly and turned to look up at her. "My position?" She asked, her voice was strung with irritation.

Wren explained. "Master Slade explained the crime pyramid to me when I was six. He was very descriptive on the culprits and the motives for what would lead to certain crimes. Children normally steal or kill out of desperation or survival instinct. In different cases though, when the elements for desperation aren't available, theft occurs so that the thief can experience the rush of adrenaline or maybe to feel rebellious." Her head tilted to the side as she mentally summarized Faye's predicament. "You don't really fit the second."

Faye looked stunned, either by the girl's knowledge for such grim subjects or for the fact that she was right. Or maybe both. "I just learned how t' take care of myself." Faye told her. "The right way."

Wren decided not to press further. It sounded like Faye was having trouble with such a subject. Slade had always taught her to be patient, but for most children, even her at times, that was difficult. For the moment she would let it be, but when the time came, she would try to press for more information.

"Help me set up the stand." Faye said, rolling together three barrels they'd found behind an ally along with some glass jars and abandoned paint cans. Faye had also found a field of wildflowers that she had picked and arranged handsomely in small bouquets, which they would sell for a dollar. They painted the words, LEMONADE in big black letters on the center barrel. Below that, they put DONATIONS ACCEPTED. On the right barrel they painted in smaller letters WILDFLOWERS $1.00 per bouquet. On the center barrel they put the tall pitcher of lemonade with the paper cups that they'd purchased from the store. On the right barrel they put a large jar for the donations. They put the flowers in smaller jars and set them up all around the stand to make it look pretty and cheerful. By the time they were done, the stand looked overall fairly good and seemed to be quite the eye catcher.

Wren thought it would end there, but oh no. Faye insisted that in order to ensure good business it wasn't enough that the stand needed to look presentable, but they did as well. Faye left Wren to watch their things while she got changed behind a bush. When she emerged at last, she was wearing a red wrap dress, styled as a cross strap. She still had on her cowgirl boots, but applied large hoop earrings and make up to adorn her attire.

"See this?" She asked Wren, gesturing to her outfit. "This is one dress you can wear one hundred ways. Got it for three dollars at a garage sale. We'll try and find ya one as well. In the meantime take off that hoody and I'll fix yo hair."

Wren did as she was told, instantly displaying the pink short sleeved shirt Faye had lent her the day before. She turned so that Faye had an easy access to her unmanageable black hair. She first tried to tackle it with a comb but gave up when it had so little effect on it. "Gee wiz girl, what's with yo hair. Don't it ever just stay down?"

"No, never. Slade always complained about that."

Faye growled, finding no success with the comb. "Well if ya can't change it, improve it." She got out some hair gel from her bag and spiked Wren's short hair. Wren felt the gel harden. It was unusual and uncomfortable at first but when Faye got a good look at her, she smiled proudly. "Normally girls shouldn't spike their hair because it looks too boyish, but ya know, that look is pretty fine on you."

Wren touched her hair which had hardened into little spikes all over her skull. Then Faye brought out a box and told her to face her as she applied makeup. Wren wasn't quite sure she was comfortable with what she was doing, but she went along with it while the older girl brushed powder and mascara over her eyes. "Normally," she began, treating Wren's face as if it were a canvas and she an artist, "girls yo age shouldn't really wear makeup, but if we apply it sparingly, it should be just enough."

Faye blew the excess dust away and held up a little mirror for Wren to study herself. It was like she were looking at a different person. Her hair no longer looked like the unruly bedhead it had been before, and seemed to look somewhat presentable. As for the makeup, it did indeed flatter her, bringing out her eyes more than they had before and touching up her lips to make them shine.

"Very hot." Faye said, observing her own handiwork. Wren smiled softly and they turned in their seats as the work on the stand spoke for itself.

"See Wren," Faye told her as their first customer approached them, "it ain't entirely about the product, but the presentation."

They'd managed to get a lot of business. Wren had suggested setting up towards the entrance to the park and it was a good move on her part. It was hot (but that was typical for any day in Taft) and people crowded around the stand to find a cheap drink to staunch the heat of the sun. At first Wren thought that not putting a price on the lemonade would be a bad idea. As it turned out they received more than they expected by two that afternoon.

People seemed to be really generous around the suburb part of town; Especially if the vendors were two innocent looking young girls selling lemonade on a hot day.

One man actually tipped them twenty dollars. Wren was a little suspicious of such a gesture since Slade used to over tip the waitress when he went to a restaurant all the time. The generosity often left the hard working women feeling cheerful and lucky to have gotten to wait on the customer, but really it was reverse phycology. Being overgenerous and friendly to strangers often left people thinking Slade couldn't possibly be something like a hired killer. It was just another type of mask he liked to wear.

Was this man someone like her old Master, or was he really just a regular man paying them for the innocence they showed. Wren put it out of her mind. Whether it was or not, she wasn't going to get into it. She had other business to deal with.

A bright smile played on Wren's face as people came and went. By the time they had run out of flowers and drink mix, the two finally closed shop and went to find some food.

They sat in a diner eating hamburgers as Faye counted out their earnings that day.

"One fifty-three… one fifty-four… one fifty-five and sixty eight cents." She ended proudly, counting it all out on the table. Most of it was change but there were a few bills in there. "Dang, girl! At's more money than I eva' had at one time."

Wren calculated their profit for the day in her head. "We spend six dollars for the drink mix and sugar so that's a profit of one hundred forty-nine and sixty-eight cents."

"Not too bad for a lemonade stand." Faye said, eating a french-fry.

"People were very generous."

"It's 'cause of our irresistible good looks and charm, Sweetness." Faye announced, striking a pose with her hands tangled in her hair. She looked ridiculous, but somehow Wren still managed to miss the joke that was made there.

"It was?"

Faye frowned. "Sarcasm is a foreign language to ya, in't it?"

"No. Master Slade was sarcastic sometimes."

Faye rolled her eyes. "We'll have t' work on 'at as well."

Wren shrugged and went about drowning her food in all the mustard that she could. Faye's eye brow rose at the sight of it.

"Ya really like yo mustard don't cha, girl."

Wren grinned. "I enjoy it very much. It is truly a delightful taste."

"Ya have more mustard than anything else. I like mustard too, though there is a limit."

"I never had it when I lived with my master. It is indeed life changing."

"Well now you've officially entered paradise."

She beamed as she licked her fingers happily. "I do not believe I will ever be the same again."

"I don't think yo _life_ will ever be the same again." Faye said biting into her own hamburger. She studied the younger girl while she ate her food, carrying a whimsical expression on her face as she slipped deep into thought. "Ya remind me of Lulu." She said serenely.

Wren looked up. "Lulu? Who is that?"

"My lil' sista," her face seemed to change to one of sadness as she continued. "But she's gone now."

"Where is she?"

"She's with my parents."

Wren could distinguish a note of hurt in her voice but she somehow couldn't stop questioning. "And where are they?"

"…In heaven."

Wren knew what that meant. Dead. She didn't feel pity as was natural. Instead she couldn't understand because she never experienced the sort of loss Faye was dealing with. She knew that loss hurt people but she didn't understand how much so, because in truth she'd never lost anyone. So she said nothing more about it.

"Hey," Faye perked up suddenly and her swing from moods caught Wren off guard. "I've been meaning t' ask ya' about that thing you did last night. Ya' know where you sort of flew a little bit."

"I told you that I have never done such a thing before."

"Yeah I know, but ya' think ya' could try again?"

Wren shrugged. "Maybe. I am not really sure to be quite honest. But I suppose I could try."

"Hell yeah, girl. It would be so neat if you really could fly. Then you'd be like Supergirl, or Wondergirl or somethin' and ya could vanquish all 'em bad guys and stuff. Dang Lucky!"

Wren looked down at her plate. She was silent for a long time. "I do not want to be a hero." She said softly.

"Say what? Why not? They have all the coolness in the world."

Wren thought, leaning back in her seat. "I do not think I would like such a responsibility as the price of lives in my hand. I have been taught how to kill my whole life. It would be difficult to contradict all that."

Faye looked stunned. "Come again? Yo master been teachin' ya how t' kill?"

"Yes. He taught me what I needed to know about taking a life. I can easily kill a person twenty-four ways without using a weapon of any kind."

"So he made ya kill people? Yo nine!"

"No. I have never killed a person before in my life. But I would kill for him, if he ordered it."

Faye looked sick and angry at the same time. She was absolutely appalled. What kind of horrible man had that Slade guy been? Could it be that Slade had been a hired killer?

"Wren, what sorta stuff was Slade in? What was his occupation?"

"He was a crime lord. I was his heir." She said simply. She'd never talked to anyone about this; mainly, because she'd never had the _chance_ to talk to anyone about this. She'd never had friends before, so Slade had seen no reason to tell her to keep his identity a secret.

"So he was plannin' on givin' ya his empire when ya were grown up?"

She shrugged. "I expect so. That was the whole purpose of having an apprentice for him. Though I am sure that it was also so that he had someone he could trust to serve him. So that if he died unexpectedly, there would be someone to carry on his work after he was gone."

"At's… at's a lot of pressure, don't cha think?"

She paused for a moment, looking thoughtfully out the window. "I never thought of it like that. I have always known what I was to him and what I was expected to be. I never thought of it as pressure, but now that you mention it. Yes… I suppose it was a lot of pressure."

"Have ya' eva just had the chance t' be a kid?"

Her head cocked to the side curiously. "Well how do you mean?"

"I mean just having freedom, girl!" Faye said exasperatedly. "Runnin' around, climbin' trees, hoppin' fences, hangin' out with friends, scrapin' yo knees, and just getting' into occasional trouble, for cryin' out loud!"

"No, not really."

"Damn! Yo childhood is slippin' right through yo fingers, Wren!" Faye announced.

Wren looked confused. Slade had always told her that being an adult was better than being a child and she had believed him. "And I suppose that is a tragedy?"

"Tragedy is right! Yo childhood is probably the most important part of yo life and ya need to exercise it with all the freedom ya can get." Faye frowned after saying this. Then she called the waitress over unexpectedly. "Can we get some boxes please?"

She paid for their meals and led Wren out by the hand. They walked down the street for about four blocks before Wren spoke her confusion.

"Where are we going?"

"We are lookin' for a ball game."

"A ball game? You mean like the one we watched yesterday?"

"Sorta, cept we're the ones who will be playin'."

"Why?"

"Because it's fun and it's what kids our age do."

Wren looked surprised. "Really?"

"Yep." They walked until they came across a school yard with children playing the same game they were looking for. Faye volunteered their skills for it and a girl called Ellie agreed to let them on their team. Wren looked a little guarded as the children lined up to bat.

"I must warn you," she told Faye as a boy was testing out a wooden bat. "I do not yet know how well I will be at this game."

"I'm sure ya'll do fine." Faye said. "The whole point of the game is t' hit the ball as it's thrown t' ya and t' run like hell t' each base. And when I say run like hell, I mean run like Satan himself is chasing ya with intentions of devourin' yo everlastin' soul!"

Wren looked at her through the corner of her eye. "Really?"

"Yep."

Wren watched each batter as they stepped to the plate and took mental notes for the game. At last it was her turn. She stepped up and held the bat as she'd seen the others do. The boy pitching laughed somewhat at her petite size. His laugh made her feel on edge. Was there something wrong with the way she was holding the stick? It was just like way the others had held it.

"Don't let 'em make ya feel uncomfortable, Chickadee." Faye shouted, trying to encourage her. "Ya got this one covered. Just be confident and hit the livin' crap out of that ball! HIT IT WITHIN AN INCH OF ITS PATHETIC STITCHED LIFE!"

Wren frowned but nodded, letting confidence take over in her. She could do this. She gripped the bat and watched as the pitch came to her. It was like the world slowed down for a moment. The boy pitched and the ball left his hand to zoom towards her. She swung her arms the way the other children had done and the ball collided on the bat with satisfying "PANG!"

The ball was a flash of white as it streaked through the sky, growing distant and smaller with each passing moment. The children looked here and there, having lost sight of it as it left the boundaries of the baseball field. A few seconds passed before somewhere on the wind, a window shattered to fragments. They all looked and spotted one of the windows in the school broken in unfixable pieces.

A teacher came into the window the next moment. He was a dot in the distance but they all still heard his outraged yells.

"YOU KIDS ARE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT!"

"Oh shit!" Wren heard Faye cry from her place on the bench. "WREN!" Wren looked back at her as she waved her arms frantically. "We gotta split, Chickadee!"

Wren looked back and saw three or four teachers walking towards them. Anger was very distinct on all of their faces. Rather than suffer the wrath of their fury and risk getting sent back to Slade when they found out she was a runaway, Wren decided to follow Faye as she was belting towards the gate that surrounded the schoolyard.

She passed one boy just as he was saying, "Hey if they come back, she's on my team next time."

They ran for little over ten minutes before Faye stopped and leaned behind a wall. Her breath cam in hurried gasps as she tried to get control over herself. Wren was unfazed by their run. She could have gone further if required, but felt she needed to wait for Faye to collect herself.

"Damn!" Faye said between breaths. "At's one serious arm ya got there, Chickadee. Why didn't ya tell me ya could swing like 'at?"

"You did not ask, and I was not fully aware of how strong it would be to begin with."

"Damn hell!" Faye cried. "Ya just full of surprises aren't cha, girl?" Faye breathed, calming to a degree where she no longer needed support from the wall. She looked up to the sky suddenly. "Crap what time is it?"

"Probably a bit passed three o'clock." Wren said, surveying the position of the sun.

"Already? Dang we gotta go, Chickadee. We've still got a few things t' do before the train gets here."

"Like what?"

"Well for one thing," Faye said heading in a random direction, "we gotta get you a proper pack. Can't keep lettin' ya borrow my stuff all the time. Ya need some clothes of yo own."

Wren looked down at the pink shirt and hoodie Faye had provided for her the day before. The clothes were already somewhat dirty. "I suppose so."

They stopped at a thrift store where Faye picked out several items Wren already recognized. Slade had often taken her out to survive in the woods with as little as they could carry. Most of the things she already knew how to use. A tinderbox for one thing, as well as pocket knife, a fishing hook, weightier and bobber, sixty feet of strong twine, a little flashlight, a mirror, and a folded space blanket for seriously cold nights.

Along with that, she selected a canvass shoulder bag, some shorts, a pair of pants that were way too big for Wren's small frame, three shirts, a pair of tall purple converse shoes, a pair of black flip flops and two dresses.

Before purchasing, Faye held them up to Wren one at a time, to see what would look best on her. Wren didn't know a whole lot about clothing or style really, so she allowed Faye to make the decisions for her, speaking only if she was certain she didn't want an item, like the green two piece swim suit that was two sizes too small for her and which displayed her belly button in an indecent way.

"Some of these clothes are a bit out of style and several sizes too big for you," Faye announced sifting through the choices. "But thanks to my handy dandy sewing kit and mad seamstress skills, we can update some of these picks no problem."

They made their purchase and it all came down to twenty eight dollars in the end. It was a good deal for used goods. Wren hoped they would last.

Before leaving for the tracks, the two watched a bottle rocket launch in the vacant parking lot that was being filmed by a couple of boys. Wren and Faye watched together as one of the boys lit the fuse. A minute went by and nothing happened. Confused, one of them neared the bottle. Wren sensed the danger of that before it happened.

As expected, the rocket shot straight into his groin and then ricocheted into his face. Both Faye and Wren held their mouths in horror as blood gushed from the boy's nose and he doubled over in agony. His friends seemed to find his pain hilarious while they pointed and laughed at his misfortune.

"Oh my golly goshness! Are you okay?" Faye cried, wondering if she ought to get some help for him.

"Yeah he's fine." The camera boy answered as his friend rolled around on the ground, holding the areas their homemade rocket had struck him. One of his friends held out some paper towels to him. "It's just a nosebleed. He'll be alright."

Wren disagreed. She had been watching closely. The bottle had hit him hard enough to leave quite the bit of damage, but hopefully nothing permanent. The most he would suffer from was a slight nosebleed and a large bruise… a rather very large bruise. Faye didn't feel as confident either, and once she was sure he would be okay she looked up at the sun once more and jumped to her feet.

"We gotta go, Birdie." Faye announced. She grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the train tracks at the other end of town. The train was already on the move when they reached it.

Wren made it first. "Quick!" She yelled reaching her hands out to her friend and grabbing hold." Take my hand. I have got you."

She pulled her up just as the train reached its momentum. As they rode down the track, Faye got to work on Wren's clothes. She pulled out a sewing kit and told Wren to stand as she took measurements of her frame, recording whatever she found on a card.

She was still working well past sunset, choosing to work by the light of their gas lantern.

In the morning the out of style clothing had been transformed into trendy outfits that were both durable as well as beautiful. Now she had a pair of bubble shorts, overalls, three new shirts that had been cut down to size, and a reversible dress just like Faye's, only Wren's was made out of the bright blue and indigo fabric of the two dresses they'd bought the day before. There was even some jewelry she had made for Wren, fashioned from some of the same fabric as the clothing, but also with pendants Faye must have saved in her kit.

Wren was stunned by the skill Faye had used to create the entirely different pieces. It was like art.

"Well… how do ya' like 'em?" Faye asked the next morning.

Wren held up a flannel shirt that had been too big for her yesterday but looked to fit her now. "Are these really the clothes we bought yesterday?"

Faye looked proud of her handiwork. "Yeah, I altered 'em pretty good, if I say so myself."

Wren tried on the overalls and red horizontal striped t-shirt first. The two fit perfectly and the Converse shoes went very well with the outfit. The braided choker also turned out to be a perfect fit.

"Ya look great." Faye said when she was done dressing. Her face lit up at a new idea. "Hey ya' know what would be a great idea? Let's pierce yo ears!"

"Huh?"

"Yeah, we could pierce yo ears, then ya' can wear some nice earrings that I've got. They'd go perfectly with that outfit."

Wren rubbed her ears, thinking about the pain of having something stabbed through her skin. "I am uncertain if I wish to do something like that quite yet. If I do, then I would prefer if we were not moving in a train car."

"Fair enough." Faye answered. "Though, I think ya would look really fine with earrings, Chickadee. Ya'll be having all the guys droolin' afta ya with the outfits I made."

"Oh… well that is… good?"

"Hells yeah it's good. Women love t' feel desired by guys. It makes us feel wanted and important."

Wren pondered for a moment. "Yes. I suppose you are right about that." Wren did like to feel wanted. Faye definitely made it feel like she was wanted here, whereas she couldn't ever recall Slade making her feel as such. True, he had never made her feel _unwanted_, but in the long run, it sometimes felt as if he didn't really need her and she was just there… to be there.

Faye made her feel very wanted and it made Wren crave for more.

* * *

Slade didn't know where his apprentice could have gone or why she had chosen to run away so suddenly. Wherever she went though he needed to find her quickly… before someone else did.

Back at the estate, Slade cross-referenced Wren's picture with anything that could have surfaced in the past forty-eight hours. After five to ten minutes he received a seventy-two percent match taken with a video camera outside a thrift store in Taft. The video had been uploaded to YouTube that morning, entitled, "Worst Bottle Rocket Fail Ever" and had already received three thousand views in under two hours.

Whomever took it, had caught her while they were filming a bottle rocket launch. She had stopped with a friend, whom could only have been the dark girl the gang members were talking about.

Wren was on camera for little over three seconds, just long enough for her companion to shout, "Oh my golly goshness! Are you okay?" before the picture switched back to the injured boy and the one holding the camera announced. "Yeah he's fine."

The video was quite comical and if he hadn't been looking for her, he would have missed Wren altogether. She was even shorter, compared to the other girl who captured the audience's attention at once, and part of Wren's face was cut off by the other girl's shoulder. But it was definitely Wren. He would know those eyes anywhere. Though how she managed to make it to Taft so quickly, without any money, was a mystery to him.

If he had to guess, he suspected she was train hopping. Their destination was unknown, but there was a way to find her. He hacked into all the major railroad cameras to see if she had been spotted anywhere else, but none had been recently taken.

He put an alert out for her picture if she was spotted anywhere else. In a few hours he would get more leads.

* * *

**So here it is. Another chapter. **

**Not a whole lot of action and fighting in this one simply because I wanted Wren to experience a day in the life of a normal kid without things blowing up. Next chapter is sure to have a lot more fighting and action sequences. Plus, it'll even feature some old friends from the original Teen Titan series, but I'm not giving out any spoilers.**


	7. Chapter 6 My Hero?

**There's a lot more action in this chapter than my previous ones. Mainly due to the fact that, yes, there will be superheroes in this one, as well as super villains, and not just Slade. **

**I do have a bit of bad news. For those of you who don't really like OCs (and I know Wren, even though she's actually Mar'i and she's owned by DC comics, she is an OC because I've really changed her whole look and personality) and now we have Faye who is just one big OC no matter how I put it. Unfortunately there will be one more OC that comes along, eventually, and he's kinda important. But I promise that is the only one… well for a while. I'm really trying to use as many DC characters as I can squeeze in, and I wouldn't talk about them if they weren't important.**

**The new OC won't be appearing in this chapter, or even the next one, but soon.**

**Okay, so let's get down to business.**

* * *

**Chapter 6  
My Hero?**

Mesa City. Not a bad place to spend a few days. True, in Faye's personal opinion it was too big for her taste, but still. There were at least some good stores she could find what they needed, at the least.

Faye walked into town with the list in her hand. She had left Wren asleep at their camp, (which was really just the park in one of the playground tubes) while she went to pick up some groceries. They needed some traveling food, as well as a few toiletries they'd run out of and had forgotten to get the day before.

Most of what they needed was easily found at the dollar store. Maybe it wasn't as nice as the stuff found at Walgreens but it was just as affective.

"Alrighty," Faye announced once she had gathered everything on the list. There was still one thing she needed. Film for her polaroid. Out of everything she had purchased, that was going to be the most expensive. It took a while but she eventually found a film store where she bought a full roll that was on sale for ten bucks.

"Great! Now I got my pics and I can document this traveling experience properly." She took a picture of herself to test the quality and was pleased with the almost crystal clear results.

Her attention was drawn suddenly to a couple of men on the corner. "Did you hear about the fight tonight, Between Cinderblock and Livewire?"

"Yeah. Heard Cheetah been training for the rematch for a whole year straight."

"Think she has a shot at the championship?"

"Not a chance. I mean Cheetah's tough and all, but it'll take more than just that pussy-cat to take down the champ for three years running."

"Yeah. I guess so."

Faye turned to the two of them, excitement in her voice. "Cinderblock and Cheetah are having a faceoff tonight?" The two looked embarrassed to see that she had been listening in on what was supposed to be a private conversation, but Faye continued, "Where is it? I gotta see that!"

"It's a thousand bucks admission, kid." The man announced crossing his arms over his chest.

Faye's mouth dropped. "A THOUSAND BUCKS?"

"That's what I said. You wanna see the fight, you gotta pay for the seat."

"Are you kidding me? I don't have a thousand bucks."

"Well then I guess you ain't seeing the show."

And without another word, the men turned their backs on her and left. Faye pouted angrily. No way was she going to miss a fight like this. She followed the two at a safe distance until they eventually led her to an old warehouse near the shadier part of town.

She suspected that was where the fight would be taking place. She needed to get Wren over here on the double if they didn't want to miss the show.

* * *

"Chickadee!"

Wren looked up and spotted Faye running towards her excitedly.

When she had woken up that afternoon and found herself alone, she had partially feared that Faye may have left her. Her fears had been eased when she spotted her friend entering through the park's entrance. "Is there a problem?"

"Not at all." She laughed excitedly. "Wanna see a wicked fight tonight?"

"A fight? Against who and what kind of fight?"

"A serious battle to the death between two of my favorite villains; Cheetah and Cinderblock."

Wren looked questionably at her. "Where is this fight taking place?"

Faye grinned and took her hand to lead her to the warehouse in question.

* * *

Slade was alerted by the ring of his phone. One of his robot doppelgangers had just reached a street corner in El Paso from where the Bottle Rocket video had been filmed.

It was the precise area.

He looked around on the ground, searching for a trail Wren or her traveling companion might have left behind.

Wren seemed to have been a lot more careful about hiding her trail compared to her friend whether consciously or not. He definitely recognized the imprints of cowgirl boots he had seen her wearing on the video. The robot followed the footprints until they led him to the tracks nearby when they disappeared completely. He suspected they had boarded a train at around six at night the day before. He brought up the train schedule and found that only one train had rode on these specific tracks that day and had been headed to Barstow.

Well then his next destination would be Barstow.

The real Slade monitored his double's progress from his home base in California. He had built his robots to act and respond just as he himself would do. If the double found anything worth reporting Slade could easily access it on his supercomputer or smartphone.

There was no point for Slade himself to follow the wanderings of his on-the-run apprentice. He had more pressing matters to attend to. Only when he was certain of her position would he embark himself to fetch her.

* * *

"Are you certain of this?" Wren asked nervously. She had trained in the art of breaking and entering since infancy. She knew the basic structure and programming of a normal security system, but had never actually performed one in real life. The thought now seemed somewhat… unnerving.

Faye tried to reassure her as she unhooked a screen to the ventilation system. "It's okay, Chickadee. It's just like what they do in the movies. No problem, really. We'll just do a little Mission Impossible here. Sneak in through the ventilation, watch a quick match of Villain Verses and then be on our merry way. Sound a'ight t' ya?"

"I suppose, though I fail to see how this is in relation to our initial goal."

"It's not. It's just somethin' t' pass the time." Faye turned to the opening, but before she could crawl in first, Wren stopped her.

"How about you allow me to take the lead? I have been trained in this area of breaking and entering after all."

Faye shrugged and followed Wren into the air vent. About five minutes into it, Wren stopped abruptly. Faye ran into her rear and scrambled back hastily.

"What's up?"

"We must be careful." Wren said, drawing her attention to a set of motion detectors. "I suspect these were installed for intruders such as us. Do you have a mirror?"

Faye handed her a compact she kept in her pocket. Wren took it and diverted the laser back towards its source and they both crawled through again. They came across three more motion detectors and Wren diverted them as necessary. At last they heard the cries and cheers of a crowd echoing off the metal tube.

"Over here." Wren said, peering down through a grate at the crowd below. "I cannot see the fight but the crowd certainly seems enthusiastic.

"This is stupid!" Faye muttered angrily. "We busted in here to see a fight and all we get are a show of people's heads! Ooh look that's guy's toupee fell off. Talk about a shiny scalp. Do ya polish that thing, Chrome Dome? Wow! Beehive much lady?" Wren wondered if this meant she had found a new interest as she went on noting everyone's odd hairdos.

Wren looked around. "I will return. Perhaps I may find a better place to observe the fight."

"Probably be better if we both split up. I'll go this way and you go that way."

"But we do not have sufficient communication devices to split up."

"No worries. We'll just meet back here in fifteen minutes. Kay?"

"I suppose it will be fine if we have a rendezvous point. I will try to hurry."

"Same here."

And there they parted ways.

* * *

Nightwing wasn't much into performed fighting, but when he heard that an old friend would be featured there, he decided to see what the fuss was all about and break up the happy little show. Dozens of wanted criminals were sure to be found there, in any case. The night wouldn't be a total loss if he still didn't manage to get the information he was seeking.

Even after nine years, he was still in search of his long lost daughter. Some people might have even said he was obsessed over it. The knowledge that his own flesh and blood was being raised by his worst enemy was consuming. After her abduction, he spent day and night searching for some trace of her. His desperation to find her eventually led to the end of his marriage.

Starfire at last had had enough.

He could recall the fight as clearly as Bruce could recall the deaths of his parents.

**Nine years ago**

_Dick glared at the screen, typing away like a mad man. It had already been eleven months since his daughter had been stolen and in his frantic search, Nightwing had been led across three continents, twelve countries, two oceans, fifty cities, thirteen rivers, and a partridge in a pear tree (and that last one wasn't even a joke). _

_He didn't want to believe it, but it seemed that his efforts were for nothing. Slade and Mar'i seemed to have dropped right off of the face of the earth. His daughter was nowhere._

_But that isn't possible, he told himself. Dick hadn't been trained by the greatest detective in the world for nothing. How could he spend so much time on this and still come up with nothing?_

"_Dick?"_

_He hardly acknowledged the tender and concerned voice of his wife, only continued his work._

"_Dick?" Kory said again. "It has been five days since you last slept. You've barely eaten anything. You need to rest."_

"_I'll rest when Mar'i is home safe." He answered simply._

_She sighed, thinking back to the most recent mission. She and Dick had both been led to Bialya, where a tipoff had instructed them that a man fitting Slade's description owned a country house near the border of Queen Bea's land and Qurac. Starfire and Nightwing had wasted no time in pursuing the possibility that their daughter was just a world away from them._

_Upon arrival they came across the expected Sladebots and security measures as well as what they assumed was the kidnapper himself, yet instead turned out to be yet another one of his doppelganger robot drones. He wasn't there, but it hardly mattered, because as soon as he had the two parents within the vicinity, a bomb went off, leaving the entire property reduced to shambles. Thanks to Starfire, the two had thankfully survived, yet the Slade duplicate had spoken to Dick just before it had gone off._

"_You efforts are for nothing, Dick." He'd said. "I've taken every precaution to make sure you never see Mar'i again. I control everything that's linked to me. You only received that tipoff because I planted it in the first place. And you delve in without looking just like I knew you would."_

"_Why? Why are you doing this, Slade? You're a father, yourself. A horrible father maybe, but a father nonetheless. You should know that I'll never stop till I find my daughter."_

"_That's what I'm counting on."_

_And before Dick could answer back, a beeping ensued and Starfire was only just able to get the two of them to safety before it exploded completely. _

_After that one encounter Dick had submerged himself with searching, and ultimately turning his back on his friends and his family._

"_Richard, please. I know how you feel but I do not wish for you to become… obsessed."_

"_Of course I'm obsessed!" he all but shouted. "What I'm more concerned with is, why aren't you?"_

_She glared making her voice heavy and firm. "I am concerned and worried and frightened. I have never been so much in my life, which is why I don't want anything additional to happen to the rest of my family."_

"_Don't you get it? Finding Mar'i is the only thing that matters. Slade has her, he might hurt her."_

"_I KNOW THAT!" She screamed. "You do not think I know that? I worry about such a thing every single moment of every single day! But Mar'i isn't the one he is hurting." She put a hand on his arm, trying to make him see what she was trying to show him. "Richard! It is you! He is doing this to hurt you."_

"_Of course he's doing this to hurt me. He's doing this to hurt us! Why else would he do this?!"_

"_You do not see…"_

"_NO! You don't see!" Dick shouted, gripping her by the shoulders. "What we need to do is do everything possible to get her back. That's the only thing that matters right now."_

"_I know you want to find Mar'i, Dick, but there are other people in this equation apart from her. And I do not think shutting yourself out from the world is the answer."_

"_I'm not shutting myself out."_

"_Yes you are! And I love Mar'i too but I cannot turn my back on everything just for her."_

"_Then you didn't love her like I did!"_

_Silence doused them both. The room seemed to have gotten five degrees colder after his declaration. Dick knew he had crossed the line with those words, but he couldn't seemed to make his mouth move in the shape needed to say an apology. Instead he took his hands off her and walked slowly back to the computer._

_Kory, still trapped in her shock that he would ever say something so… terrible, stood there, stunned beyond belief._

_Where she empathized with his—their loss—she could no longer stand in the background of his grief. And that fight was, at last, the final straw._

_Late one night, Nightwing came home to their apartment only to find the house emptied of her things and his alien wife gone for good._

_What was left was a simple letter explaining the state of her feelings, an apology, and a goodbye. He hadn't seen her since._

_Her departure was just what he needed to wake up. _

_After that, he began to change. While trapped within his state of grief the world had changed. His team had changed. _

_Raven had all but vanished into thin air, Cyborg and Bumblebee had split up, and their good friend Beast Man was gone. Killed in cold blood on a mission, and Dick had been so engrossed in his own self-pity, he hadn't even stopped to look up._

_He felt disgusted with himself for letting things get so out of hand. He realized that his daughter was gone, but shutting the world out wasn't the answer._

_And so he returned to his normal work of saving lives and vanquishing evil, but he continued the search for her in whatever way he could. _

_Anything that cropped up, he went after. Several occasions he was lead to a dead end. Once, he came so close, but upon the arrival at the estate he assumed Mar'i was being kept in, he found nothing; nothing but a message taunting him and his efforts._

Not close enough, Robin.

_He didn't need a signature to know who had left it. Despite all he's done, Dick swore he would never reduce himself to taking a life. He would keep to the code of his adopted father. But if he ever found Slade, no code in the world would keep him safe from Nightwing. Not for the first time in his life, had Dick wanted to kill someone, but he could never remember wanting to kill someone so badly than he wanted to kill Slade._

Now he was going after a lead that meant infinitely nothing. It was more than likely that Cinderblock hadn't heard a word or seen a trace of his old employer for years. But either way, it probably wouldn't hurt to ask. And… it was all in the face of duty.

"Hey, Nightwing. You alright?"

He looked up when he felt Bumble Bee's hand on his shoulder. She, Huntress, Black Canary, and Red Tornado had all decided to accompany him. He couldn't deny they would be useful. It was a big bust and he would need all the help he could get.

"I'm fine." He told her while they sailed through the sky on a Javelin. "Just a little eager is all."

"Think it's really Cinderblock?" She asked him.

"That's what the source told us. He and Cheetah are having a face off tonight. Several other reports of known villains and wanted criminals are suspected to be there, Roulette included." He glanced back at Black Canary and Huntress. "I believe you might have met on one or more occasions."

Huntress and Canary both shared a scowl. The hostess of so many illegal fights was back on the move and back to her old ways as well. The two heroines were almost as eager as Nightwing to put a stop to this.

"Judging from the schematics there are three entrances into the building. The front door, the back into the loading bay, and the ventilation system. For that, we'll have three groups each taking a separate entrance. Huntress and Canary you'll take the back. Bee and Red, the front. Which leaves me with the vents. Canary and Huntress you take point, flushing the crowd out through the entrance where Bee and Red can apprehend them. I'll work on subduing the bigger fellas till Huntress and Canary catch up."

"You sure you can take them on your own?" Canary asked.

"I only have to distract them till you guys get the crowd running. Besides, we've met on a few occasions. Cinderblock is an old friend, right Bee?"

"Sure thing."

They left the Javelin in camouflage mode and autopilot while they descended onto the building, each taking the area instructed to them.

Before leaving, Bumble Bee grabbed Nightwing's arm. She was one of the last two original Titans who still spoke to him. She knew him almost as well as Cyborg did. The two didn't talk much these days, but every once in a while they crossed paths.

"Hey, we're not just here for Cinderblock are we? I mean I know you're still looking, but I don't think…"

"It's okay. We're here to do a job. It's like the report said. There are a number of known villains and criminals down there. Cinderblock is just a bonus. I don't expect I'll get anything from him, but it never hurts to check."

Bumblebee nodded, satisfied with his answer.

"I suppose I can understand that." She said with empathy for a similar situation.

They all disembarked and went their separate ways.

* * *

Wren was tired. She wasn't quite sure where she was or if she was even still in the arena part of the building. She counted to herself as she turned corners, keeping track of the different directions she turned.

Left, right, right, left, right, right, right, left, left, right.

It was difficult keeping track of so many turns, but Slade had instructed her as necessary and she knew enough about it to direct herself back to Faye. Perhaps it was time she headed back. She made her move forward but just as she was maneuvering herself around, the grate under her gave way and she fell with it.

"UGH!" Someone shouted under her.

Wren jumped up, immediately leaping into a defensive stance. She seemed to have stumbled upon a large kitchen area. Several cooks surrounded her.

"What the? It's a kid!"

"Stinkin' trespasser probably thought she would be able to see the fights."

"Well just kick her out then."

One moved towards her and grabbed her by the arm. "Come on kid."

"Hey, the new fighter is on." One of the cooks said pointing towards a screen. It was set up so they could watch the fights from here. "That's not Cheetah… is it?"

"Maybe she has a new look."

A girl with long cornrows and dark skin was standing in the center of the arena dressed in Cheetah's costume and a mask. She waved and smiled at the crowd enthusiastically. Wren looked up, clearly stunned as to how precisely her friend could have gotten there.

"Faye, that was not part of the plan." She looked around the kitchen and up at the man who still had a grip on her arm. "Excuse me, but I am afraid I cannot allow you to throw me out just yet. It appears a friend of mine requires my assistance."

* * *

Faye hadn't meant to get caught by security, and she hadn't meant to run into Cheetah's dressing room, and she certainly hadn't meant to knock the villainess unconscious. The woman had just come at her, clawing at Faye with her talons. What could she do but dodge as needed? And then, out of shear dumb luck, she had pushed her hard enough with her legs to slam the woman into the wall where a heavy mirror fell and landed on the back of her skull, sending the woman into the void of unconsciousness, by accident.

A silent moment passed where neither moved. Finally, Faye got shakily to her feet, awed by what she had just accomplished.

"Okay, okay… I just beat Cheetah? I just beat Cheetah." Her face widened into a proud smile and the reality of that sentence. "I JUST BEAT CHEETAH!"

A knocking interrupted her train of thought.

"Cheetah! Five minutes till go time. You almost ready?"

"Um?" Faye wondered what she ought to do. Hastily she answered for the woman. "Yeah. I'll be right out. Just give me a minute."

It might have been out of shear insanity when she decided to take the woman's place. Without really thinking about it, she grabbed the woman's extra outfit and pulled it on herself. The outfit was super tight for a woman that size, so it was perfect for Faye. She also grabbed a mask left over from the last occupant of the room and pulled it over her face. She had really no idea what she was doing, but hey, who in the world would miss an opportunity like this?

Now she was in the arena waving and drinking in the applause of the crowd. That was at least until she felt the heavy footsteps marching towards her.

_Oh yeah_… she was supposed to be fighting Cinderblock right now. How did she manage to forget that?

"SQUASH CHEETAH!" The great cement monstrosity rumbled, punching a fist into his palm.

"Awe thanks, but I prefer zucchini." She said with humor. Cinderblock roared, shaking the earth as he did so. "Not a fan of jokes. At's a'ight." Her eyes grew wide as she watched him stomp towards her, intending to crush her into the ground. She felt like a matador at a bull fight.

Now all she was concerned with at the moment was staying alive. She dodged to the side right as his foot came out to kick her across the field. She saw the look in his eye and knew then that he was after blood, whether or not she was Cheetah. She decided then that she had had enough of the fight and chose to run for it instead.

Some help would have been very much appreciated at that moment. She glanced behind her to see Cinderblock punch the ground with all his strength, sending an explosion of rocks and dirt speeding towards the girl. Earth rose up from under her and she was catapulted into the crowd. Despite her harsh landing on a gangly looking flying leprechaun sort of man, she was glad to be safe and away from the rock man, at least.

Well... she was happy at first. That was at least until the thing under her started swearing up a storm.

"You dunderheaded little crud-eating snot!" He yelled absurdly. "Get you fat keester off of me before I wipe the floor with it!"

* * *

Slade's phone buzzed angrily, alerting him that another lead had been detected for his apprentice. He pushed a button and the images appeared on the screen of his computer.

It was of the illegal fights that woman Roulette was found of hosting. What in the world was his apprentice doing there? And was that Cinderblock she was facing?

Wren looked around nervously, clinging tightly to the ladle. Her eyes caught on the camera and they widened in shock. Slade stared back at the screen, stunned to see his ward at those illegal fights of all places. From her expression, he could see that she hadn't meant to record this on film.

Indeed she hadn't, but there was nothing she could do about that now. She had to save her friend.

Now where exactly did she go?

"What are you two up to?" Slade asked to the screen.

The announcer rambled excitedly at the new development. "What's this now? A girl! Another young girl has now entered the ring and appears to be holding what looks to be a… a LADLE! My god! What on earth was she thinking to come armed with only a ladle?"

Slade eyed her weapon and shook his head, clearly disappointed with her choice. Of all the selections she could have made…

"A ladle? Oh Wren I know I taught you better than that."

In the arena Wren disliked the roars and boos from the crowd and she most certainly disliked being the center of attention. She turned when she heard large footsteps marching towards her. The Cinderblock creature thing was after _her_ now.

_Yikes!_

She looked at her weapon and looked at the cement creature. Without many options left to her, she turned and ran away with the monster chasing after.

The crowd laughed as she sprinted away, practically with her tail between her legs.

Wren ran at her fastest speed, climbing onto the stone structure Cinderblock had created. He almost had her when she suddenly turned, kicking her leg against a horizontal pillar and twisting her body towards her attacker. The world slowed down for her at that moment. She saw Cinderblock raise his head to find his prey was now sailing above him; Or more specifically, towards him. The ladle was raised highly in her hands, with the handle pointing down. She gripped it tightly and at the right moment, dug it deep into Cinderblock's eye. She pushed and a big red ball popped out, attached by a thin thread of optic nerve.

Wren back flipped over his hard head and landed in a crouch on the other side. She looked back to observe her handiwork.

"Oh my!" The announcer cried, just as surprised as the crowd was. "What in the world? Ladies and gentlemen, it seemed the girl has managed to dig out one of the monster's eyes. I definitely did not see that one coming and apparently neither did Rocky!"

Slade shared the surprise of everyone watching. His brow rose with amusement. That had been quite unexpected, but impressive, too. He felt somewhat proud of her choice of attack. He hadn't been expecting that from Wren, but on the other hand, he had taught her to always aim for the eyes, if all else should fail, and doing the best to deceive and trick one's opponent. He smirked. "I knew I taught you better than that."

Cinderblock roared in furry, holding the empty socket in pain and outrage. He bent back and roared louder, enraged that Wren had tricked him so viciously.

She looked back at her weapon, wondering if it would still be of some use. Unfortunately, she now only had the bowl left, the handle having broken off as she was robbing her opponent of his left eye. It had done its job well. Not the kind of weapon that would have been first choice to many combaters, but it served its purpose for deception. She turned back to the ground and saw the perfect red orb a few feet from her. Instead of blood or flesh, there were no liquids or the type of bodily fluids one would expect from it; just a smooth stone sphere.

She had never felt the need for trophies before, but this seemed like a worthy souvenir to keep. She grabbed it up and stuffed it in her hoody.

The earth rumbled as Cinderblock roared again, spotting her just as she pocketed his eye. He stomped after, prepared to tear her limb from limb to get his eye back.

Wren realized she was no match for him without a proper weapon and sprinted away again. But there was no way she was going to outrun the giant. She stumbled when she heard something whoosh towards her from behind. She hit the ground hard, just as a boulder missed her head by inches. Heavy trembles of Cinderblock's footsteps shook the earth and the girl turned in time to see him standing over her. His fist was raised and he brought it down on her. There was no time for her to move out of the way, or to even retaliate. All she could do was close her eyes and brace herself.

Suddenly the fist that was coming down on her… missed her body completely, choosing to instead pummel empty air.

She stared in surprise.

Who…

Then she saw her rescuer, a man in a black leotard with a bright blue bird over his chest and a domino mask covering his face.

Instantly, she recognized him from case files Slade had made her read for homework. He had voiced insistently that if there was one hero she did not want to meet, it was Nightwing. Slade's reasoning's for this were vague, saying only that her master and this man had deep history that she could not understand. What he made absolutely clear, was that this man was dangerous to her should he ever find out that she was Slade's new apprentice. Because of this, she was to stay clear of him if their paths ever crossed.

Now this man, who was the sworn enemy of her master, was in combat with the monster right in front her.

"I don't believe it folks. Now it looks like a vigilante has entered the ring. If I got this right I'd say our Cinderblock is face to face with an old enemy. The first Robin Boy Wonder, now known as the grown vigilante Nightwing, is now fighting against the champ, and I don't think he's in it for the glory. Folks now are evacuating their seats, probably in regards to the possibility that at any minute more capes will be barreling in here soon to shut down the arena. If I were smart, I'd probably be going too."

Slade saw it all on the television and gritted his teeth with fury. His grip on the remote tightened till it shattered in his palm. He never expected that Wren would meet her biological father so soon, and where he couldn't do anything about it. Still, there was no way Nightwing knew this was his daughter. Almost ten years had passed since the infant girl had been kidnapped and he was more certain than anything that Nightwing wouldn't be able to distinguish her. And yet, he continued to watch the screen with growing anticipation.

Wren watched the man fight the monster in her defense. She remembered what her master had told her and got up, searching for an escape route.

"WREN! Wren over here!"

Her name seemed to have caught the man's attention. "Wren?" He was distracted and Cinderblock took the opportunity to slug him. His blow sent the man into a wall, where he crumbled to the ground.

Wren looked to where her name had come from and found Faye waving to her from a booth. "Don't worry! I'll getcha!" She grabbed an enormous violet curtain and gripped it tightly, using it for a swing. Wren changed her direction and ran towards her, reaching her arm forward to grab when her friend came by. But their hands were too far apart and they missed.

"CRAP! Go back!"

"Impossible!" She cried. Wren stumbled as she felt Cinderblock behind her again. Changing direction seemed hopeless, but she stumbled and rolled to the side, allowing the rock man to run past her smoothly. She got up quickly and ran towards her friend, her hand outstretched desperately.

"Here I come!" Faye cried, swinging herself to aim for Wren when she came back around.

Wren kept running, raising her hand as high as she could, but even that wouldn't be enough. Faye must have seen they weren't going to make it this time either, so she held the curtain tightly by her legs and bent backwards, facing Wren and dangling upside down with her arms stretched towards her. The extra distance was just enough.

Wren felt both their hands connect and her legs left the ground as they sailed through the air and out of harm's way. Her stomach flew up, growing in it, a delightful tickling sensation. It was the same sense she got when she tried to fly. She hoped it wasn't quick to end, but it was, as were all good things in this life.

She felt the stone of the booth's ledge under her and braced herself. Faye released her hold on the curtain and her weight dropped significantly. Even as Wren was braced for it, she was still surprised by Faye's weight.

"Yikes!" Faye cried when she spotted Cinderblock rushing at them again. "Pull me up, Chickadee!"

"I am trying. You are quite heavy."

"Come on girl! I'm gunna die!"

Wren found her strength and lifted Faye away from danger.

They both fell back in the booth, panting and hearts hammering in their chests. Once Faye was over the shock, she shot up and grinned excitedly. "Hell girl, were we trapezein' or what!?"

"Yes… I suppose we were."

Wren looked over the ledge and saw three more vigilantes entering the arena, attempting to bring the rock man down as well as several other meta villains that had decided to stay behind to watch the fight anyways. That provided a chance for Nightwing to look up into the booth and move towards them.

Wren saw him jump into the stands and sprint in their direction, without pause to help his comrads.

"Oh no!" She grabbed Faye's hand and rushed to the exit. "I believe we must depart."

"But… two of my very favorites are here! We hafta stay and watch the show!"

"Please." She uttered, dragging her friend forward. "We must leave! I… need to use the bathroom immediately!"

"Must be one hell've a bathroom emergency!" Faye yelled as they ran away. "I swear, girl, if you don't hafta pee up a new Niagara Falls, yo dead!"

"WAIT!" Wren's sharp ears could hear Nightwing calling after them, but Wren wouldn't stop, not for a moment. Her primal instinct to obey her master was still fresh within her.

"Quickly." Wren said turning sharply. "This way, please."

"But that's Nightwing." Faye said, turning to glance back at him. "Why, in the hell, are we running from Nightwing? He's like… twenty-second to the best."

Wren turned sharply into a door to hide. "Please, this way! I will explain. Let us just get away as fast as possible."

* * *

It was mild to say Slade felt very uneasy about this whole situation. The appearance of Wren and then Nightwing together in the same place had troubled him significantly. And when Nightwing had heard what her name was he hadn't hesitated, but ran after immediately.

Nightwing's gut was spot on and Slade hated it. If he pursued this, then it could mean trouble for Slade's plans. He was thankful that Wren had the sense to run when she did. Aparently he had been quite successful in pounding that message into her well enough.

He walked over to a keyboard and punched in a few buttons, alerting several of his Sladebots and programming them to search for his illusive apprentice. "I think it's time your little road trip came to a close, Wren. You're risking too much on this, and I won't have you stirring up anymore trouble."

* * *

The night air was brisk for a southern city like this. Nightwing stood with the rest of the vigilantes as police took the many wanted criminals they had apprehended from the arena. Roulette scowled as she was escorted into a sleek police car and Black Cannary couldn't resist the urge to wave as she was driven away. It was the third time she had been busted for these illegal fights, now the punishment was expected to be quite severe.

"Hey," Bumble Bee said, nudging Nightwing's arm. "You okay, boss?"

He looked at her for a moment. His thoughts were still with that girl Wren. She had run from him. Why would she do that? Especially after he had just saved her? Maybe she was just scared she would get in trouble for being at one of these fights.

He shrugged at last. "I'm not really sure."

"Well I just wanted to tell you to stop thinking so loud. You're making me nervous."

"Sorry. But if it bothers you so much you don't have to watch me."

"I wasn't. I had my back to you the whole time. You're kinda sending off those vibes again." Her face became serious now as they spotted Cinderblock being hauled onto a large semi-truck. "Did you get anything out of the big guy?"

"Nothing." Nightwing sighed. "He hasn't heard from Slade for years. I don't know what to do. I'm starting to…" he trailed off, unable to admit that part of himself or to her.

"Hey…" Bumble Bee put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's gunna be okay. You'll see her again, I know you will. After all, I haven't lost hope yet either. I'm still keeping an eye out for my little one, too. So don't cha worry about it, boss."

Nightwing nodded, following her and the others onto the Javelin.

Bumblebee, aka Karen Beecher, of all people knew what this felt like. Three years ago, her sister's entire family had been murdered in a brutal explosion, leaving only Karen's young twelve year-old niece as the sole survivor. But the incident had reduced Deslyn in a state worse than death. Her mangled body had been recovered from the scene, and Karen, with the help of Victor, did what they could to restore the young girl, pulling out all the stops to restore her body to normal. In the end, it hardly mattered though.

Deslyn had been kidnapped right out of a hospital bed without a trace or a clue as to where she'd gone or who had taken her.

Least he knew who had his child. She passed day by day wondering and fearing where her niece was and if she was being treated well or not by whomever had her.

His thoughts went back to that Wren girl. It was probably a million to one chance that that could have ever been who he hoped it was. If she was still alive the last place she would ever be was unaccompanied at some fight. The little he saw of her, it looked like the girl was a runaway, probably snuck in to see the faceoff between Cheetah and Cinderblock.

It would be unwise to get his hopes up for some random stranger. So for the moment, he would put it out of his mind and try to forget to the best of his abilities.

* * *

"And that is why I cannot come into conflict with any heroes." Wren told Faye back on the train.

"So 'at's why ya ran. You figured that Nightwing might do somethin t' hurt cha?"

"Or try to extract information from me about his enemies. And I know many of his enemies."

"But Nightwing and otha heroes wouldn't do that." Faye insisted. "They're good, they wouldn't intentionally hurt a kid."

"It is a war, Faye. Sometimes drastic times call for drastic measures. If they were ever successful in taking anything from me about my master or his business partners, it could mean trouble for me on both ends. No one suffers worse than that of a traitor."

"But ya can't be held responsible."

"I can and I will. It only takes a moment to destroy everything. I might say the wrong thing, or react strangely, or think the wrong thing. Martian Man Hunter could read my mind if that happened…"

"Man… this bites!" Faye grumbled. "But I understand what yo sayin'… I guess. Heroes bad, villains bad, normal people… good, even though normal people suck and aren't very interestin'."

"On the contrary, I find "normal people" very interesting." Wren announced with a soft smile. "It is enjoyable to mingle freely with citizens that do not have plots that involve robbery or destruction."

"I guess ya would enjoy that, being raised by villains and stuff."

"Villain. Singular please. My master dealt with business partners of the same ilk, but none of them helped raise me. Only him. And please do not refer to him as such." Wren said as an afterthought. "Though his activities were nothing short of criminal, he is still the man who raised me, and it feels disrespectful to lump him in with casual thugs."

"Wow, you really looked up to him didn't you?" Faye said. She frowned, suddenly having second thoughts for convincing Wren into coming with her on this trip if Slade had really been so influential to her.

Wren nodded as several memories filled her. "I did, but more so you now."

Faye didn't say anything for a moment, feeling as if she was close to blushing. "Wow… um… Okay, okay. I get it. But then," Faye frowned as a new thought occurred to her. "How do you know you can trust me?"

Wren paused. She hadn't given thought to that at all. Could Faye be a spy?

No. Not likely.

"I have decided to trust you." Wren said at last. "I do not suspect your intentions are to betray or harm me. Besides, I like you."

Faye smiled. "Thanks. The feeling's mutual if ya were wondering."

"You already made me aware of that. Thank you very much, Faye."

They both sat quietly as the train knocked against the rails.

"You know, I was thinkin'." Faye said suddenly. "That flyin' thing ya did earlier. Well it just occurred to me that having an ability like that could be somewhat useful. I mean at least with runnin' away from otha bad guys that is."

"I am uncertain if I will be able to do it again. It is quite difficult to control."

"Would ya be willing t' try?"

"I suppose. Though I cannot promise results. I get the notion that may have been a onetime occasion."

* * *

**And so the sixth chapter is concluded. **

**I'm sorry for those of you who wanted Wren to be reunited with Nightwing, but I just couldn't do it. So many things need to happen and having him catch her before we got down to the good stuff can not be tollerated!**

**So wadja think? Review if you liked and if you didn't... review anyways. I 3 mail!**


	8. Chapter 7 Life is One Big Road

**This chapter doesn't really talk about super heroes or feature any cameos or have a lot of action… or really anything. So people who were looking forward to explosions, I'm sorry, maybe in the next one. **

**But despite all that, I think it's probably one of my favorites just 'cause it gets in depth to the struggles Wren is going through with her newfound powers and developing emotions.**

**I do not own Deathstroke the Terminator, Nightwing, Batman… oh hell they're not in this chapter so why am I going on about characters we don't even get to see here?!**

**Wren and Faye are OCs but Wren is actually Mar'i so I can't take credit for her existence, but I will say that I own Faye, because I do.**

* * *

**Chapter 7  
Life is One Big Road **

The spring sun shone through the ceiling of trees as Faye coached Wren in the glade that they had found close to the tracks. Wren listened as Faye spoke to her from the sidelines.

"Now I don't know how well we'll get this, but I'll try t' help ya as best I can."

Wren nodded, understanding what she meant and Faye continued.

"Wadda ya remember when ya first started t' fly? What did ya feel?"

Wren recalled the brief moment and relayed her thoughts to Faye. "I felt overpowering… freedom." She admitted. "Freedom to be rid of my master. I felt happy. But…" she frowned as she realized the horribleness of that statement. "Now I feel guilty for feeling such a thing. He gave me everything but I left him."

"Hey it's okay." Faye said kindly. "That's probably normal for a lota runaways but it'll go away with time, I think." She clapped her hands readily. "Okay so back t' flyin', and looks like all ya got to do is just need to feel happy again. It's probably like pixy dust." Wren looked blankly at her, not understanding the reference. "You know? Peter Pan?"

Wren shook her head, still not understanding. Faye sighed and continued. "Just try t' think of something that makes ya feel happy. It can be a memory, a fantasy, an image, just something that makes you cheer up not matter what."

"Well… I suppose Miss Pacman cheers me up. That game is very much enjoyable. And hopping trains and root beer and sunshine…"

"Wren, open your eyes."

Wren blinked and looked at the ground, that was now four feet below her. "I am…" she tottered in the air when she realized how high she was. Her balance was way off and it was exceptionally difficult to move in the air.

Faye beamed. "Wren! At's brilliant, girl. Can you go higher?"

"I am having difficulty controlling myself as it is, and you wish me to ascend?"

"Sorry. Try and get yo bearing first, kay."

Wren did so and when she felt her balance was maintained, she attempted to go higher. It was difficult but she managed a few more feet. After about fifteen minutes of it, she lowered herself to the ground and remained there.

Faye seemed tickled silly by her abilities as she handed Wren a soda from out of her bag. "This is so cool. I can't believe I'm affiliated with a girl who has mad superpowers. Talk about BEST DAY EVER!"

* * *

"So I was thinkin' maybe we would like to stop somewhere and grab some chow."

Wren scratched her head and yawned. The one thing she exceptionally missed about the manor was her bed. The long nights on trains, hard floors, rocky camp grounds, and cold nights were starting to wear on her sleep.

She signed as Faye led the way down the highway. About three miles down, their train had pulled to a stop. They opened their train cart to see railroad patrol barreling down the dirt road. Rather than be kicked off or apprehended by the cops, the two girls ran for it.

They stopped only when they reached the highway. When they had their bearings back, they started down the road one more time. Faye occasionally held her arm out, her thumb extended as car after car passed by.

"Why do you do that?" Wren asked.

Faye dropped her hand when yet again another car drove by without so much as slowing. "It's a sign for drivers t' know we're lookin' for a ride. Here you do it with me."

Uncertainly, Wren held her thumb out as Fay was doing.

At that moment a truck drove up behind them and pulled to a stop. The passenger window rolled down to reveal a middle aged man with a scruffy blond beard. "You girls need a ride?"

Wren exchanged a look with Faye. She didn't need to be a detective to know this man wasn't good news for them.

"We're looking for Roswell." Faye said.

The man chucked. "Knuckleheads, Roswell is almost four hundred miles away. It's back in New Mexico."

"New Mexico? Where are we now?"

"You're in Colorado. Duh! Where did you girls come from?"

"We got lost somewhere along Arizona." Wren said.

"Well the next town is Brighton. It's about a ten minute drive from here. You two wanna lift?"

Wren didn't like the look of this man. He gave her a bad feeling. Her first instinct was to turn away, but Faye gave her an insistent look. They were tired and a ride would have been greatly welcomed. With it, Wren sighed with defeat. If anything happened, the nine year old could take care of it. The two climbed in the truck, with Wren sitting in the middle.

As the truck peddled on down the road, Wren could feel his constant gaze swooping the two up and down. His eyes seemed mostly on Faye, since she was partial to showing off as much skin as she could get away with. Today it was a denim mini skirt with a strapless pink top that showed off her navel and a white jacket, also cut off above her stomach. She had gotten a temporary tattoo of a dragonfly with razor wings, the day before and wanted to show it off. It seemed to be attracting most of the man's attention; that was for sure!

Faye got out her compact and began fixing her makeup. Her work was very precise despite how bumpy the rusty old truck drove. She started first with her eye liner, then mascara, then eye shadow, and finally lip gloss. She didn't need anything for her skin; it was already glowing with perfection.

The man glanced at her with every opportunity he got. The lust in his eyes was unnerving to Wren and she wished he would keep them more on the road.

"HEY!" The young girl cried, when he began to drift to the left lane as a car was nearing them from the opposite direction.

The man swerved back sharply. Faye giggled when he did. "Well 'at was exciting."

"You want to do it again?"

"No thank you." Wren answered for both of them.

"My friend is a little jumpy." Faye said, playfully patting Wren on the head. "Gets scared over the littlest things. You won't believe how many times I've pranked her already."

Wren pouted for the first time, looking angrily back at her friend, "That is not true!"

"Shush! The grownups are talking now, kiddo."

Wren scowled, angry that Faye would ever talk to her so condescendingly.

Faye leaned her elbow against the seat and faced the man with a sweet expression.

"So what's your name exactly? I didn't catch it before."

"Pete." He said with a grin that showed off all of his missing teeth. "So where are you lovely ladies headed?"

"Oh here and there." Faye teased. "But we're really looking for show biz, if you can believe that."

"You know most people go to Hollywood for that."

"No kidding. That's actually where we just came from… well close to anyways. But the thing with that is that everybody is going there and the likelihood of our number being picked is pretty slim and nil. They're not looking for show biz in the places where it's needed most."

"True to that."

Wren couldn't help but notice that his eyes had been a little too far south while he was saying that. She didn't understand it, but she felt a perverse desire to hit him for his offensive gawking. But she also wanted to hit Faye, for being so condescending and making her feel like a… like a… like a child!

Faye and the man flirted endlessly all through the rest of the ride. When they reached the nearest town the man pulled into a diner.

The two slid out but paused when he did as well.

"Let me buy you girls some lunch." Pete said eagerly.

"Oh that's not necessary." Faye teased once more.

"I know, but I feel it's the least I could do, since you two have been on the road for so long. I kind of figured you'd appreciate some hospitality after what you've put up with so far."

"Well it's very much appreciated." Faye said, steering Wren into the diner. They had what they wanted from the menu and Faye continued to flirt with the man, much to Wren's disapproval.

When he got up suddenly to ask for another drink from the counter, Faye leaned down next to Wren and quickly whispered in her ear, "Go find a payphone and call the restaurant. Ask for me."

An order! Wren felt her master's programming kicking in. Without bothering to ask why, the girl got up automatically and did as she was told. Faye insisted she take the bags with her as well. She already had a plan, she just needed Wren to follow along with her as needed. Wren, being the ever obedient child, did as Faye asked of her (even if she did feel belittled by Faye's words towards her).

The man didn't even notice Wren getting up. All he was concerned with was Faye as he was coming back to the booth. He did take notice that it was somewhat less crowded and looked around curiously.

"Where'd your little friend go?"

"Oh, she had to use the little girl's room."

"You know for a girl your age you're remarkably mature."

"Oh… you're just saying that." She giggled teasingly.

"You know if you need more money for your trip… I have an easy job for you to do."

"Oh… well what did you have in mind?"

"Nothing too hard, and if you can manage to find a distraction the kid for a while, I know where we can get some privacy."

Faye hid her disgust while he smiled hopefully. As if on cue, a waitress came up to her and said, "Miss, are you Faye by any chance?"

"Yep, that's me."

"There's a call for you on our phone, would you like to take it in the back?"

"Sure. That would be super." Faye got up, while the man's eyes followed her greedily all the way to the back kitchen. When she was safely behind the wall separating the man from her, Faye took the phone the waitress offered her and hung up without answering. She handed it back to the waitress and sidestepped the curious glance she cast her.

"I don't suppose you have a backdoor."

The waitress looked back at the table and gave Faye a look that said, _Now I understand_.

With more pleasure than necessary, she jabbed a thumb leading out through the kitchen and Faye followed it with haste.

Outside, she spotted Wren looking curiously at a payphone and digging in her pockets in search of more coins to call Faye back. Upon seeing her friend approaching her, she looked once at the phone, then hung up.

"I suspect my call was to subtly lure you away from that man?"

Faye grinned and tapped her nostril playfully. "Right on the nose, Chickadee."

"And I also suspect that he desired something from you in return for his _kindness_."

"Yeah… first rule of womanhood; never put out too much," she announced holding up her index finger to count off. "And that guy was definitely looking for too much."

"So… we simply leave? Without thanking him?"

"Trust me," Faye said darting behind the restaurant to follow an off gravel road. "It's in everyone's best interest. We were fed and given a lift. The guy was flattered and now won't be charged with pedophilia. Everyone goes home a winner."

Wren frowned and looked back to the restaurant uncertainly. "I am uncertain he will feel much the same way once he realizes we have double-crossed him."

"Hey… it's totally in everyone's best interest. Trust me on this okay."

"You _are_ more knowledgeable in this aspect I suspect."

"Yeah. So… you know, just follow my lead." They walked on before Faye spoke once more, breaking the silence, "Sorry about treatin' ya like dirt back there."

"Huh?"

"In the truck and diner. Sorry about making ya feel belittled. I was tryin' to get the guy to think I was interested in him."

"And you suspected he would be more interested in you if I were invisible?" Wren was surprised when she heard that her voice actually sounded a bit hurt, as if it still made her angry to think about.

"Yeah… look I'm really sorry for putting you down like that. 'At was low." And she sounded truly sincere.

Wren pouted in thought, "Well, your means _did_ acquire us a ride and we were fed without the need to spend money better suited to be salvaged as far as can be possible. So I detect I can forgive you."

"Well goody." She threw her arms around her friend happily. "Now that we've kissed and made up, what do you say to a little flying practice?"

"You seem to be greatly more excited about this new discovery than I am." Wren noted as they walked down to a grove of trees to practice in.

"I've neva met a meta before that wasn't trying to kill me, Chickadee. Or if I have, I've neva known. This is super cool for me. But somehow I get the vibe that yo not as thrilled as I am."

"It is difficult to explain." Wren said, remembering back to how uncontrolled she was during last practice. "I am very… amateur. But I suspect this skill could certainly become a useful tool in due course. Especially when escaping the authorities or other rouges."

Faye cast her a light smile, "Ya know, ya talk kinda funny. Like some sorta smarty-pants lawyer or alien ambassador."

That caught Wren a little off-guard. Faye had never commented on the way she spoke; perhaps out of politeness or something. "Well consider then, that your speech is equally as odd to me in retrospect."

Faye thought for a moment about that, and then nodded, as if that made sense.

They spent the majority of the day practicing on Wren's flying. With a bit of concentration the girl was even able to grab hold of Faye's arm and lift her a few feet off the ground as well. Faye laughed but Wren felt as though she were attempting to lift a ton of bricks. Well, she corrected that thought suddenly. Bricks were easy to carry for Wren; Faye, for some absurd reason, wasn't at all.

"Why are you so very substantial, Faye?" Wren gasped setting her back on the ground. "It is unnatural."

"Says the girl who defies the laws of gravity," Faye retorted with her hands on her hips. "And what the hell is 'substantial'?"

Wren set back on the ground and was instantly grateful for the stability. Being airborne was somewhat frightening for her, if not for the height, than knowing that the smallest lack of concentration could send her back to earth without warning or even run into a tree or other obstacle by mistake.

"You are heavy." Wren said bluntly to make Faye understand what she meant.

"I am not!" Faye cried indignantly. "I'm as thin as any otha girl my age, and twice as hot!"

"I am not implying that you are not." Wren said. "I am merely addressing the fact that you weigh abnormally hefty for someone your size."

"Well I don't know why I'm this heavy. I've just got a denser build, is all."

Wren wondered if that were the case. Maybe there were just some people who were that heavy even if they were petite below any other average person their age.

"Perhaps that makes sense."

They looked up at the sky simultaneously, studying the sun and its position. With the closeness it looked with the horizon, they decided to walk a bit more in search of a place to spend the night.

* * *

"Wren, by any chance have you been using my camera?"

Wren blushed when her friend found that some of the film from her camera was somewhat diminished. Hastily, she moved to apologize. "Forgive me, but I found your camera while in the search of toothpaste from your bag. I was curious by the device and took a picture just to experiment with it. But then it was so enjoyable that I took another till it progressively turned into ten photographs. I will gladly replace the film I used if that is the matter. And I shall dutifully make certain to ask for permission before I use it again."

"Hey, it's cool, Chickadee." Faye responds holding her hands up defensively. "I don't mind that ya used it. I just wanna see the pictures ya took."

Wren shuffled in her bag and dug out all the Polaroid photographs that she took up. Faye leafed through them with interest. "Hey these aren't bad. You've really got a knack for this kinda stuff."

"I… enjoy the way photography captures a moment." Wren explained. "The next time we come into some money, I would like to purchase a similar camera of my own."

"Or…" Faye said pushing the blue camera into the girl's chest. "You can have mine."

Wren stared at her friend, her eyes glittering. "You… you are certain that I may have this?"

"Sure. I mean photography in't really my thing anyways. I just have the camera t' document where I've been. But ya'll seem t' really shine at this. So I'll let ya take the pictures from now on."

Wren's whole face beamed with unsurpassed glee and her eyes glittered with happiness while she squirmed with delight. Unexpectedly, she threw her arms around her friend and crushed her with a suffocating hug. "Oh thank you, Faye. I am most grateful for this gift. The closest nicest thing I have ever received to compare to something this wonderful was the game cube my master gave me which instructed one on how to break through any high-tech security system."

"Oh… well I'm glad you like it then."

"Indeed. I like it very much. Thank you immensely for this gift."

"Yo welcome."

The next few days passed and Wren happily documented them with glee, clicking away at the camera and capturing every waking moment. Her photos were excellent and Faye could definitely see that this was inevitably becoming a hobby. She even discussed finding a photo album for her to keep the pictures and maybe turning it into a sort of scrap book of their journey. Wren enjoyed the idea and was eager to start right away.

Everything about the hobby was delightful to Wren. She enjoyed finding just the right keepsakes to stick in there: a napkin from a diner they enjoyed, a soda bottle cap, a pressed flower, a stray button. It was primitive for a first scrapbook, but she was just learning, no one could blame her if it was just a little messy. And all the while, Wren clicked away at the photos, keeping the moments close to her heart and the turn of a page away.

* * *

**Wow…**

**This chapter is so short. I hate it. I must post another one. I must!**


	9. Chapter 8 Tales of Health and Wealth

**I meant to post again the day after last week to compensate on the chapter being so horribly short but while I was tweeking this chapter, i realized it wasn't going in the direction I needed it to go in. I also accidentally ended up making this chapter too long so I'm in need of shortening it up to save time. I could give it all to you in this one chapter but then I though, "Eh... I'll leave them hanging for a while."**

**Yes I'm cruel and I love it!**

**I don't own Deathstroke the Terminator, Nightwing, Batman, Teen Titans… oh damn, they're not in this chapter either. Well fine! I don't own Superman. DC Comics and Warner Bros. does.**

**But Faye is mine. I'll take credit for her, but not for Wren 'cause she's really Mar'i Grayson even though I completely changed her natural look and personality and history and upbringing and…**

**OH LET'S JUST GET TO THE STORY ALREADY!**

* * *

**Chapter 8  
Tales of Health and Wealth**

The wind blew furiously, shaking the train while they coasted down the tracks. Faye and Wren shared a blanket, trying to guard against the freezing temperature by sharing body heat, but it was little effect compared to the biting chill.

"Why in hell's bells is it so friggen' cold?" Faye muttered, through chattering teeth.

They jumped when they heard a loud, harsh crash. A moment later, they were flung off their seats when the car tilted unexpectedly to the side.

"AHH!" They cried together, rolling as the box did. Just when they thought it would last forever, the car finally came to a good halt. Other than themselves, the car was completely empty, so there was that to be grateful for. They breathed, counting their blessings along with their bruises.

"Chickadee, I think our train has had a bit of a wreck."

"I would have to concur." Wren got up, seeing that the door out was now above them. "I guess this would be one moment when my flight would be beneficial to us."

"Ya think?"

She didn't acknowledge her sarcasm, just floated up and gripped the door, yanking it opened. A splash of rain soaked her when she had done so, but she blinked and muscled through the water, floating down to grip her friend's arm and flying them both out of danger.

Faye shivered. With her lack of clothing it was no wonder she was freezing. Wren decided to let her have the blanket, since she was perfectly alright so long as she was moving. Wren didn't get sick easily. Come to think of it, she could not remember a time in her life when she had ever been bedridden, but she had heard and learned from basic human biology how a person received a cold or illness. The last thing she wanted was for her friend to get seriously poorly or hurt.

She blinked through the water dripping down her body and searched her surroundings looking for shelter from the blistering cold and wet. A cry for help suddenly alerted her attention. The train driver! He was still alive.

"I have to help them." Wren said to Faye.

"Hey, ya think ya can just do yo Supergirl thang without me!" Faye said looking for the most promising way off of the car. "I don't think so. I'm helpin' too, Chickadee, and don't try t' talk me outta it."

"I was not going to." Wren stated floating her friend somewhat awkwardly to the ground. They rushed to the engine and proceeded to liberate the driver from the smashed transportation. In addition they looked for bystanders that might have been caught in the crossfire of the train's destruction. They only disbursed when all involved in the accident were taken care of and the distant sound of sirens were heard coming from the opposite direction.

By the time they'd found an adequate empty building to spend the night in, both girls were exhausted and cold. In no time, they were both out and snoring, even before their heads hit the dirty mattress.

* * *

"Faye… Faye. It is time to depart." Wren shook her friend awake. When normally she was up in less than half a second, this time it took five whole minutes of prompting from Wren before the girl forced herself in a sitting position. From the pale color on her face and the grey circled under her eyes, Wren could tell she was not in fine spirits today.

"A'ight." She said, struggling to get on her feet. "Let's git going." That one task took her two entire minutes to get in an upright position. When she had accomplished that, she attempted to take some steps but failed horribly when she collapsed on her knees.

"Faye!" Wren cried with concern.

"Doncha worry yo self." Faye insisted irritated. "I'm a'ight. I don't need yo help or nuttin'. I just need some chow."

Wren tested her forehead, despite Faye's insistence that she was okay, which she most certainly was not. If her forehead was any hotter she might have been one fire. "I was afraid of this." She said at once, dropping her hand. "That storm last night made you ill. I should not have allowed you to assist me."

"Whadda ya talkin' 'bout, Birdie." She once more attempted to get to her feet. She wobbled and leaned on the wall for support. "I'm as right as rain and trains… 'cept for the one last night."

"You most certainly are not." Wren said. "You have a fever and you cannot even manage to stand correctly. There is no way I can let you go out today. You need medication."

Faye looked indignant at the idea and puffed up to her full height. "I've nevah been to no doctor before in my life, an' I aint startin' now. I'm just burnin' now because I'm a naturally hot woman." She stood to her full height and struck a pose she meant to be sexy.

"Listen to reason, Faye." Wren tried, gently pushing her back on the bed. "You can hardly stand. We must make sure this is not too serious. Please do this for me."

Faye gave Wren a sideways glance and considered her request. "Well… just as long as they don't shoot me up with anything, then I guess it'll be fine."

* * *

Wren tucked Faye in for the present, finding somewhat clean blankets and bundling her up as best she could on the small bed. She left a roll of toilet paper and a wastebasket beside her for her runny nose and incase she needed to hurl.

In the meantime, she looked around the small southern town, asking and stopping people at random to see where she would be able to see a cheap physician for her friend. The certifiable professionals were all far too expensive and the only one they would ever afford to see was an old witchdoctor or "miracle worker" as they called him around town.

Wren was skeptical about such a thing, but at the moment, she had few to no options left to her with their budget.

"Come on, Faye." She said upon returning to the empty building. "We are going to see a doctor."

"Doctor?" Faye sputtered, managing to get to her feet with Wren's help. "I told you I ain't nevah been t' no doctor before, and I ain't gunna start. Ya hear me?"

Wren would need to compromise with her to make her feel more comfortable. "Well when considering, he is not actually a doctor, more accurately like a witch, you have nothing to fear."

"Oh." Faye thought for a moment, actually appearing to be more open to such an idea than seeing a certifiable doctor. "I'm good with it as long as he doesn't try to stick me with any needles."

"I will clarify that to him."

* * *

A half hour later they sat together in a poorly furnished living room of a small rundown old hut. Some chickens in cages faced them and Wren absently wondered what their use was. She recognized some voodoo artifacts. Or maybe they were just pets… hopefully.

A man entered the room at that minute. His skin was at least a few shades darker than Faye's and he had wild gray hair with a frizzy beard to match. He had half-moon spectacles held together with rusting wire and a long red robe with gold trimming and a Navaho design. Wren was beginning to believe that coming here was a big mistake.

"Ah, more patients here to witness the word, from the great and powerful Bloodwynd!" He announced in a deep voice.

"Uuuuuum…" Wren began meekly. "We aren't here for any words. My friend needs healing. She's sick."

"Ah yes. Of course." The man said quickly. He stooped and examined Faye, who was so out of it, she couldn't even keep her head up for more than a second. "Hmm… yes… yes. Ebola by the looks of it. No doubt about it."

Wren's eyes went wide. "What are you talking about? There is no way that could be possible. It is merely a fever. It cannot possibly be so serious."

"Oh? Well of course not. I was just testing you." The man said throwing his arms out enthusiastically, while Wren wondered why in the world he would need to test her like that. "Now into my office, you poor sickly girl!"

Wren helped Faye to her feet and moved to escort her in, but was pushed back abruptly by the so-called-doctor. "NO ONE BUT THOSE BEING TREATED ARE PERMITTED TO PASS!" he pronounced in a booming voice.

"But I cannot just leave her. She needs help just to stand."

As she said it Faye tottered drunkenly to the side and landed on the ground with a hard thunk.

"No need to worry," he said patting her on the head. Wren was getting mighty tired of people doing that to her. "She's in good hands. Wait for a while and she'll be well and ready to go."

Wren stood there awkwardly for a moment, but when she heard crashes coming from inside and Faye's outraged yells, she darted forward to peek through the key hole of the door. Her eyebrow rose slightly at the rotating disco ball on the ceiling. She was somewhat startled to see Faye behaving enough to lie down on the table while the man chanted and twiddled his fingers in wide dramatic motions.

Wren had never been one to take magic to heart. In all honesty she had never truly believed in such an unexplainable form of energy. However when she asked her master of it, he had confirmed that there was indeed such a thing as "true magic." Yet there were those sort of people who tried to pass parlor tricks off as the real thing.

She had never seen the parlor tricks, nor much of the real thing either, so she couldn't distinguish where the truth of this guise began and then came the trick.

The man waved his hands wildly. The boy beside him held out a bowl of some kind of watered down potion to which the man dipped his fingers in and sprayed them all over Faye's outstretched body. She hardly responded to the wetness other than a slight shiver.

On the witchdoctor's command, the boy hit a button on an old beaten up boom box and the room was filled with a bells, drums, and choir songs. The man chanted louder with the assistance of his backup chorus. Wren wasn't sure if it was her imagination but her heart seemed to rush with anxiety at the rhythm of the drums and music.

She didn't know any words of the language he spoke in, but it gave her the distinct feeling that something big was about to happen. As she predicted, something did happen.

The man waved his hands over Faye, and everywhere they rose her skin began to glimmer. Wren squinted, trying to see what was happening. As her skin glimmered more and more, something began to move. Tiny specks of light wiggled and churned out of her skin.

"Maggots!" Wren realized, with revulsion. Maggots were wiggling out of her skin. On some silent order, the boy fed Faye some strange liquid, to which she drank up hastily. The man then took a lit match and threw it on Faye. Wren gasped as her entire form was suddenly ablaze with red sparks and the drum beats and music reached it momentum.

Out of shear panic, Wren slammed the wood with all the force she could muster and burst through the door in a flurry of blue. By that time, the music was over and the man was throwing on a coat, satisfied with his work. Wren looked hastily towards Faye, who was still spread out over the table as if nothing had changed.

Wren panted heavily, confused and puzzled by this natural state when she had witnessed everything that had occurred within the small room.

She walked over to her friend and the man didn't stop her. "How do you feel?"

"I'm not sure." Faye announced, still in her hoarse voice. "I think I feel better. That Bloodwynd… he's pretty incredible…"

"Faye…" Wren said with a touch of fear. "You were enflamed."

"Yeah… pretty hot, huh?" Faye wouldn't say any more after that. When she was ready, they both sat in the waiting room to receive the bill.

"Is this really the cost?" Wren said in disbelief. She could hardly believe the amount on the sheet of paper. Together the pooled amount the girls shared was scraps compared to this. She was told that he was cheap but this seemed just as expensive as the regular doctors. And all the man had done was blow a little smoke and mirrors and given Faye some weird dust juice. "It is so much different from what I heard I would have to pay."

"It is as you see it." Bloodwund promounced leaning in his chair with arms folded over him.

"No. I cannot accept this."

"You dare defy a doctor of my skill?" The man said lowly. "Might I educate you on what happens to those who do not pay me for my services?" Wren didn't answer, getting annoyed by his word, so he continued. "All those who take advantage of my generosity will suffer. Your friend has three days. If the full amount is not paid within that time she will remain sick until the charge is lifted. You understand?"

Wren paused, thinking it over. "I understand." She answered at last. "But can you wait till tomorrow. I will have it tomorrow after I work tonight. I promise."

"Promise, promise, promise." The man repeated in high pitched baby voice. "How many times have I heard that from someone?"

"I do. It will just take some time."

"Fine, but in view of the circumstances, I will ask you to sign a contract to show your good faith."

Wren agreed but only after she had read over every detail of it and signed with satisfaction, insisting that she have a copy of the same contract with his signature as well.

Afterwards, she somehow managed to get Faye back to the empty building and put her once more to bed.

"I am going out now, Faye, to find some work." She said, tucking her in, nice and comfy. "I will try to be back as soon as possible. It might take some time though so I do not want you to worry. Stay in bed, and drink lots of water. I left some bottles on the table for you so make sure you take care of yourself."

Faye laughed, which turned into a sneeze as she hastily swatted the air for some tissue. "I'll beh fine. Yo jusd ged dat cash and we call id eben, kay?"

Wren was startled to hear her sounding so different. If anything, she was just getting worse, not better. Had that doctor cheated her? Maybe he was right, though. She needed to get moving.

* * *

She walked around the town for several hours, asking different business owners if they had any work for her to do, many of which turned her away with the suspicion and concern that she wouldn't be able to do much considering her size and age. But she insisted that whatever a grown adult could do, she could do just as well and perhaps even better. Though her pluck was amusing, no one took her words to heart and repeatedly told her to "shoo". Wren was beginning to get annoyed and after the twelfth person refused her, she decided to demonstrate her usefulness the next time she was refused.

Just then though, she was stopped by a man near the farmer's market. He was dapper and cleanly shaven, wearing a spotless designer shirt, leather pants and sunglasses. Wren became instantly suspicious of this man, considering most of the men surrounding her were all dressed in stained jeans plaid, button-up shirts, and steal toed boots. This man was so obviously out of place in a setting like this.

"Hey kid, you lookin' for some work?" He said with a smile that set Wren on edge.

Her attention perked with the possibility of work. "Yes, if I can do it of course. And I know I do not look like much, but I can work hard if you have heavy lifting that needs done."

"No worries about that. Look my name's Ty. The job I have for you is surprisingly easy. You see, I'm a photographer…"

"…And you require someone to carry your equipment for you?" She asked hopefully.

"What? Oh no. You see I'm doing an excerpt about rugged beauty and I'm actually in need of some models at the moment and you are just the kind of person I need for this."

"Modeling?" Suddenly she realized just what kind of photographer he really was. She knew his kind, she'd come across men like this plenty of times. His skin and bait was all different, but she understood just what he meant by "modeling" and there was no way she would be stepping into his studio. "Oh no, sir, I do not do stuff like that. I am much more useful as a caddy or assistant. I do not… pose very well."

"Oh it's not hard. All you have to do is do everything I say." He announced swinging an arm over her shoulder and steering out of the market. Wren studied his hand and estimated just how easy it would be for her to bend him into a nelson hold strong enough to make him cry for his mommy. "If you do a good job I can guarantee you a hundred by the end of the night."

That part stopped her. "A hundred?" Back with her master that was like chump change they used to tip the waitress, but now that she was overall on her own, such money was gold to Wren and Faye. It would pay for her medical bills that was certain, and considering that no one seemed keen on hiring her for anything, Wren was ultimately running out of options.

"Well… I do not know. It sounds intriguing but…"

"Hey miss." Wren turned just then to see a man coming towards them. She had already spoken to a man he worked for and he had refused her help. The man who approached them now was strongly built yet aged with greying hair and glasses folded and tucked in his shirt pocket. He wore a plaid button-up shirt and a denim jacket with jeans, just like the other farmers in the vicinity. "It turns out we have some work for you to do after all, if you don't mind some heavy lifting and a late night."

"What sort of work is it?"

"We have a large farm where I live. For the past few nights some thieves have been busting in and stealing the animals. They killed some of our dogs and we need a lookout to keep them from getting in again while we're busy pulling up a fence around the property. You up for the job?"

This sounded like a perfect job for her. Thieves and lookouts were her specialty. Wren smiled and straightened to her full height (which wasn't much), and announced determinedly, "Yes, sir, I am!"

She felt a hand on her shoulder again. "My offer still stands? I can even stand to pay you two hundred if that interests you."

That definitely interested her. Two hundred!? That could set them up for weeks if they were careful with it. But still… she didn't like it. Yet then again if he tried anything, she was more than capable of defending herself if necessary.

The farmer glared and narrowed his eyes at Ty suspiciously. He obviously didn't like the man, and Wren could definitely understand why. He had (as Faye would probably call it) "one of those vibes" to him. The man turned back to Wren with sincerity in his face. "Look… we can't pay you much, but if you need a place to stay, we can provide for you until you need to go to… wherever it is you're going."

"Thank you. That is very generous in fact, but I have a traveling companion and she is… bedridden for the day."

"You both can stay."

Wren blinked, "Really?"

"Yes. We have a guest space in the barn. You can come in and use the bathroom whenever you need. And a meal is in it with your pay."

"Well… it does sound much more accommodating than our current residence."

"A barn?" Ty snorted with what sounded like hilarity. "You're kidding me!"

The farmer stepped up to him just then, towering a good three more inches over Ty. Wren's eyes widened slightly, expecting there might be a fight she would need to break up soon. The rugged man looked to be getting angry while protective at the same time. "Look pal, I know exactly the kind of modeling job you're probably referring to. So if you don't want me to call the police, then you'd just better step off!"

Ty looked ready to throw a punch at the man but also wary, as if the threat of police was overpowering. At last he sneered. "Fine. You want the kid so bad. Take her. I can find a dozen older and better girls without even trying."

"Not around here you won't. I see you sniffing around within thirty miles of this place and I'll report you to the station and they'll have your ass in a cell faster than you can put your hands up."

Ty growled angrily and stomped away, clearly furious.

Wren stood there a little mutely while they watched him leave. She looked up at the man and coughed, drawing his attention down to her. "So… when may I start, Mr…"

"Kent," the man answered, turning his attention back to the girl. "Jonathan Kent."

* * *

"Achoo!"

"Bless you."

"Thanks," Faye sniffed irritably, wiping her nose on a hanky. It was close to being ninety degrees out, but Faye was bundled up as if it were below freezing. Wren sat next to her as the man, Mr. Kent, drove them in a beat up pickup to the farm he had described. It was larger than she predicted, which meant larger work and better pay. A huge barn stood about fifty yards away from the house, which had a homey Farmer Brown charm to it.

"Well this is it." Mr. Kent announced pulling to a stop. "I'll show you where you'll be staying." He led the way as he carried their bags into the barn. Wren could smell animals nearby and the sounds of horses and cow calls greeted her ears at the mention. Their sleeping quarters were set in a room at the corner of the barn. The swing door and walls blocked out the smell and the noise and it was relatively clean and well kept. Two cots stood on either side of the room with a small bed table set in-between them. Faye allowed Wren to help her inside and laid herself down on one of the two cots there. Thin blankets were kept folded at the ends with pillows laid on top for company like them.

"I'll let you girls get settled. Martha will have dinner ready at six and you two can come in and eat when you're ready."

Faye grimaced. The thought of any food sent her feeling nauseous and close to hurling. "No thanks. I'll just rest up if you don't mind. And thanks for the digs, pal."

"So I guess you will have one for dinner tonight, Mr. Kent." Wren announced to the man.

"No problem. Then right after we'll get you set up for your look out."

* * *

"Hello?" Wren called, peaking in through the back door into what appeared to be a kitchen. A woman appeared a moment later.

"Hello, there. Are you Wren?"

The woman, who Wren suspected to be Martha, was aged like Jonathan yet there were still some brown in her hair and fewer wrinkles than her husband. She had a very grandmother feel to her as she pulled a casserole from the oven and set it on the table. She smiled at Wren and the girl couldn't contain a soft smile in return.

"Yes that is me." Wren said, in answer to her question. "And you must be Mrs. Kent. Your husband told me about you while we were in the truck."

"Oh that's nice. I heard there were two of you, but your friend isn't feeling to well?"

"No, I am afraid not. She is bedridden for the present and does not have the stomach for edibles, but I would like to bring her some water if you would not mind me borrowing your faucet for a moment. I have my own water bottle for her."

"I can do better than just water." The woman pulled out a tray lined with a bowl, spoon, napkin, tea cup and kettle. "I made her some broth and tea for you to take out to her."

Wren was taken aback for a moment by that announcement, as well as the tray she had clearly prepared with such care for her friend. "That is certainly very kind of you. Thank you greatly." She took it from the woman and turned to the door. "I will make sure she gets this. It would be a pity if it got cold so I will go now."

"Go on, the biscuits are still rising, so you won't miss dinner."

She thanked the woman once more before turning and going back out to the barn where her friend was sprawled out in the same position. After a minute or so of coaxing and insisting that she should eat something, Faye at last forced herself into a sitting position and downed some of the liquids. Despite her ailment, she was successful in finishing off a good portion of the soup and tea. When she had eaten all she could stomach, Wren asked her how she felt.

"Bedder… I guess, bud nod by a whole lod."

Wren nodded and scooted the wastebasket over to her, prepping her with tissues and water in case she felt the urge to vomit or blow her nose.

After her friend was taken care of, she turned back towards the house. It was close to sunset and Mr. And Mrs. Kent were already pulling out their chairs to be seated at the table. A place had been set for Wren at the opposite end and she took her seat as needed. She felt exposed and alone without Faye accompanying her, especially in the presence of these strangers; Incredibly homey and American strangers, maybe, but strangers nonetheless.

Wren waited as the couple bowed their heads to give thanks for the food, feeling she should mimic their folded hands out of respect. Mrs. Kent scooped her some casserole and she helped herself to a role.

"So tell us about yourself, Wren. Where are you from?"

She gulped on her food. Wren had feared the two would want to chitchat and she had suspected their topic in conversation would be about their two interesting guests. Unfortunately there was not much Wren could share with these people that didn't reveal too much. I mean she wasn't about to start swapping stories of growing up with an assassin. Instead she reached out for a lifeline to save her from the topic entirely, and she found it across from them in the room opposite.

"Well um… I am more curious to know about you two. For example, the young man and girl in the photograph over there, are they relatives?"

"Clark and Kara? Yeah those are our kids."

"They're grown up now. Clark's a journalist for the Daily Planet and Kara is off at college for the moment."

"That must be nice to have two successful children like that."

"The house is lonely sometimes and we're a little shorthanded around the farm at times, which is why we're grateful to have some company for a change."

"I'll bet, but forgive my intrusion, but they do not resemble much of either of you."

"Oh no. They're both adopted."

"Oh…" For some reason that caught her a little off-guard. She'd never known any other person other than herself that had been raised by someone other than their natural parents. Slade, as far as she knew, hadn't been much of a parent to her so much as a drill sergeant. Then again, she really only knew her side of it. She knew what Slade was to her but did she really know what she was to Slade.

"Was it a challenge… to raise someone else's children?"

The couple paused to share a look by Wren's unusual question.

"Children come with their own challenges wherever you go." Mrs. Kent answered. "Whether Clark or Kara had been _born_ to us doesn't matter. We'd love them the same either way. Although there were some slight differences," the two shared another look by that.

"But we don't think it would have been much different either way. Of course, Clark came to us when he was still a baby, and we took Kara in when she was a teenager, so there were some differences in each."

"I think Clark might have been somewhat more of a challenge than Kara, just because we didn't really know what to expect from it all."

"And there were quite a few "surprises" that came with it."

"Why do you ask?"

"I uh… well," she hesitated, uncertain if she actually wanted to share that much with them. "I ask because… because I was raised by someone other than my parents."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. And I never really knew how he felt about it."

"Why didn't you ask?"

"The thought never occurred to me until just this moment. We were not much the "talkative" type, either of us. And we never spoke of feelings all too well. In fact, we never spoke of feelings at all."

The two glanced at each other once again, yet this time they looked somewhat disturbed. "Maybe you should start."

Wren slouched in her chair. "It is too late to do so now."

"It's never too late."

"It is if…" She didn't finish. There was nothing she could say that wouldn't arouse suspicion and concern. She didn't want these people to worry for nothing, and she definitely didn't want them sticking their noses in _her_ business. Instead she shrugged, turning her attention to her food and studying and interesting piece of chicken. "Never mind."

For the remainder of the meal they discussed what she was to expect from her job and how she was to do it. When they finished, Jonathan led her to the field and prepped her with a flashlight and a whistle to call the dog. The sun had gone down, but there was just the smallest sliver of light.

"Okay," Jonathan told her, "Patrol the area for a few hours or so, if you see anyone, yell and blow the whistle, but do** not** try to fight them. Understand?"

She nodded, despite the fact that she knew it would be no trouble for her to disburse some troublesome thieves if the need arrived. "Yes, sir."

They went their separate ways with Wren taking one side of the property and Jonathan taking the other.

Despite herself, Wren found the task incredibly boring. She circled the large property five times in under two hours and counted nine shooting stars within that duration of time. Faye would have made a wish on each one, but to Wren they were just small, rapidly moving meteors burning up on entering the earth's atmosphere. And in any case, she had no wishes to make even if they were more than that.

* * *

Faye rolled over, trying to shift the snot in her nose to the other nostril. It was uncomfortably annoying trying to breathe out of a half stuffy nose. If she could just get it moving enough to clear up her left side, she could roll over on her back before it clogged up her right.

"Being sick sucks…" She moaned, throwing her arm over her eyes out of exhaustion for her own weariness. She couldn't remember a time before when she had been sick so bad. In fact she really couldn't remember all that much to begin with… well sort of.

She got pieces every now and then. Brief images. Then she'd piece together what she knew and sewed together her own backstory. Even as she thought about it, her own mind and subconscious illuminated her past as she dreamt.

_She blinked in the sunlight, head hurting, throat soar, stomach… stomach… gone!_

_She leaned over and the next moment she was looking at her lunch in reverse. She gasped hard and long when it had all finally passed. When she felt she could sit up, she rolled over and examined her surroundings._

_It was a city ally. Garbage cans, car parts, and all manner of filth surrounded her. It suddenly dawned on her that she had no idea how she had ended up here, or what city she was in, or where her family was… if she even had a family. What was even more frightening was the realization that she had no idea who she even was._

"_My name?" She said, eyes wide and frightened. "What's my name?"_

_She searched herself, desperate for clues of some sort. She was wearing a short pink dress, high heels, and a book locket. Her hands fumbled, trying to get it opened. When she did, it folded out with four individual photographs. The first one was of two little girls, smiling happily as the older of the two tickled her younger sister. A memory flashed in her mind's eye._

"_Lu…" She said as she gazed at the photo of the younger girl. Yes that was her little sister, and the girl next to her would be… "Me. Yeah that's me. Lulu and… Damn what's my name? I can remember my sister's name but I can't remember mine. What is it, damn it!"_

"_F… F something. Okay so it starts with an F. That narrows it down. F… F… Flo… Fanny… Faye? FAYE!" She cried with delight. "There we go."_

_As soon as her triumph surfaced, it sunk. Okay, so she knew her name, but she still didn't know why she was out here or why she was wearing something so… mature for her age. Then it dawned on her._

_Of course! The brothel! She'd been kidnapped for trafficking. Everything suddenly seemed to be coming back at once. Her parents' deaths then her sister's accident, the foster care and the streets, then right after that she was kidnapped and stuck in a whorehouse._

_Judging from her state, she must have escaped pretty recently._

_She picked herself up and looked out onto the street. She didn't know what city she was in. It was some distant, out-of-state place she didn't recognize._

_Maybe it was Atlantic City? Or New York? Hell she didn't know difference. All big cities looked the same to her._

_She stumbled around looking here and there for help of any kind. Shouting drew her attention and she turned to where the noise originated. Multiple people came rushing towards her from the opposite end of the alley. Panic of being attacked forced her to move and she chose a direction._

_Without warning her path was blocked by several people. She looked beyond them, trying to see towards freedom and find her escape. But they herded her in a corner, shouting angry phrases about a Mercedes and spray paint._

_What did they think she had done? Before she could take the opportunity to defend herself one of them hit her. She collided with a wall and coward as one after another took aims at her._

_She was scared, but angry too. For some reason she thought she could remember something similar of this. She had wanted to kill then and desire to kill again filled her._

_She didn't quite remember what happened or what she had done, but a moment passed where she had absolutely no control over her own body. Her vision failed and she blacked out. In the next moment to pass, she was standing over seven charred bodies. They were hardly recognizable but as seconds ticked by, she realized they were the same people that had attacked her. _

_Terror overpowered her and she sprinted away. With her bare feet stepping on every piece of broken glass in her path, that was close to impossible._

"_There won't be much change…" _

"_WHO'S THERE?!" She shouted to the offset voice._

"…_Her bio chemistry will certainly be different."_

"_UGH!" She gripped her head as the voices continued to bombard through her subconscious._

"_We did all we could…"_

_The walls of the alley fell away suddenly to reveal utter nothingness. She reached out for something grab on to, anything to stop the fall into the fire under her._

"_Someone help me!"_

She gasped and choked on the fire, shooting up out of bed. Sweat covered every surface of her body and she swatted the air as if expecting someone to be there. She lied back, relieved but shaking. Her eyes widened as she felt her mouth water and rushing coming up her throat. She shot back up in search of the wastebasket Wren had left for her. He hand found it and she barely managed to hold it back before she vomited right in the bucket.

"Faye? Are you alright?"

Wren entered the room at that moment. Just in time to watch Faye lean over and hurl her guts out into the bucket.

Without a word, she came over and felt the older girl's forehead. Her hand fell back with disappointment. "It has not gone down at all."

"Have you got the money to pay that guy?"

"Not all of it. That doctor is forcing me to pay interest as well."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. And already Mr. Kent has been very generous, but this job is not enough to cover the bill. And you need more rest if we're ever to leave. We'll have to stay another night."

"Fine with me. It's not like I even have the gall to get up anyways."

Wren looked at her through the grey circles under her eyes. Faye couldn't' interpret her expression or the unspoken words she was trying to say.

"What is it?"

"Faye… I am very tired, but I am not so tired to ignore the cries coming from the room."

"You heard me?"

"You had a nightmare… I think that is what they are called, at least. Do you wish to discuss it?"

"Not really?" Faye said instantly. Upon thinking it over once more, she rephrased. "Actually, yeah. I do."

"Proceed then."

She hesitated before continuing. "I did tell ya before that I had a sister right?"

"Yes I believe so. And you also mentioned that she… passed away."

"Yeah… pneumonia. She fell in a river. But I never told ya how we got landed on the streets did I?"

"I do not believe we conversed it."

"I guess somewhere along the way I sorta lost my memories a bit ... when I was little—er my house was sorta burned down. Some thugs busted in and really trashed the place. I dunno why they did it, and I don't remember a whole lot 'bout the incident.

"What I do remember is there were seven or eight of 'em. Big hulking biker assholes busted in with no warning and no probable cause 'cept t' cause trouble and scare us t' death. I got pissed and yelled at one of 'em. Before I knew what had happened, he got me pinned t' the ground and was about t' do somethin'… really bad. My dad got so upset he jumped the one who had me and punched him into a pulp. Then my mom got to fighting with another one. They were real hardcore, both of 'em could handle themselves real good. It took all of them to fight off my mom and dad, but it didn't matter all that much anyways. They distracted the thugs for a while and told me and my sister t' make a run for it. I didn't want to at first, but my dad yelled and me and said to get the hell outta there."

"And you did?"

"It was the hardest thing I eva had t' do." The next part jerked a sob out of her. "We were on the street runnin' in the direction of the police station, when the house blew up behind us. Afta' 'at we were passed around from one foster family to another. Then Lu got sick and that was when things got really bad." She fingered the book locket she hid from sight under her shirt. "I remember that I loved my sister very much. She was the world to me. After she died, everything fell apart; not that it wasn't already fallen apart from before, but it got worse.

"I guess I sorta told you about being trafficked, didn't I."

Wren held up her hands, feeling that maybe this was ground she wasn't quite ready to tread on yet. "If you do not wish to discuss, I understand. I will not understand what you went through, but I will sympathize. I was once kidnapped myself."

"You were?"

"Yes, and his intentions for me were probably much similar to what was done to you."

"Nothing was done t' me! I didn't give 'em that chance."

"Really?"

"No."

"What happened? How did you escape?"

"I just walked out the front door."

Wren paused. She didn't know the whole details of what a brothel was for (I mean she was just nine for crying out loud. Slade was a jerk but he wasn't that big of a jerk.). She had heard that they were where female slaves worked. The nature of what their jobs were, exactly, had never been specified to her by her master, and it hadn't seemed like he was all that willing to explain, seeing as he had responded with, "I'll tell you when you're a bit older," after she had asked.

If she had to guess, she assumed they worked on making things for mediocre pay or no pay at all (hence the word slave), like some ignorant illegals that crossed the border to the U.S.

One thing that he did tell her, repeatedly, was that she did NOT want to be imprisoned in some place like that. He had constantly instructed her that the fate of any woman or girl who was captured by traffickers, was a fate worse than death. So she imagined round the clock hard labor, without food or water or rest, and beatings for those who slowed things down, because really, that was the worst she could imagine.

She also knew that a place like a brothel was guarded just as importantly, if not more, than an illegal super weapon factory. After all, they're merchandise probably had a habit of wondering away. For Faye to simply walk out the front door was a feat in and of itself.

"How did you manage that?"

Faye rubbed her neck. "I really dunno. Sometimes I remember it one way. Sometimes another. My memory ain't all 'at good, unfortunately."

"Oh… that must be terrible."

"In actual truth, I'm not too broken hearted about it. If they did do anythin' t' me, then whatever memories I had about it, are gone… and I hope for good."

Wren, decided not to respond to that. Instead she walked over and felt her brow once more. "You do not seem unchanged for now. You should sleep. Hopefully your fever will have broken by tomorrow."

Faye fell back on her pillows, letting Wren pull her covers up and tuck her in.

Wren herself, collapsed on her own when she was sure her friend was okay. It had been a long night of surveillance. She'd been successful in catching three boys in the act of stealing some hogs from the pig pen and had chased them off the property herself. Now she was winded and exhausted from the late night and just really wanted to sleep.

As she reached for the light, Faye stopped her. "Wren?"

"What is it?"

"Could you… leave the light on? It's scary in the dark."

A sudden pang of sympathy hit her by that request. Faye was probably the most stubborn and hotheaded person she'd ever known. For her to flat out ask something so… innocent, made the younger girl curious to know what kind of ghosts really haunted her at night.

Feeling that it was necessary to ensure Faye's rest without worry, she left it on, snuggling into her own covers and trying to find her own peace of about Faye's struggles and Mr. and Mrs. Kent's relationships with their children, made her think and wonder about her own relationship with her master. She wondered if he was looking for her, or if he'd even knoticed she had gone. Was he angry, worried, curious to know where she'd gone or why she's disapeered from him in the first place?

The thoughts continued until she discovered the cool refreshment of sleep at last.

* * *

**Normally, I would probably conclude with a scene from Slade's perspective and what he's been up to since Wren disapered, but you know I'm just not feeling it right now.**

**For those of you wondering about Bloodwynd, he really is an actual DC guy... 'cept I might have changed him up a bit... or a lot. You can look him up more on Wikipedia if you're really interested to know more about the character. **

**There wasn't a whole lot of action in this chapter, but in the next one, I promise, something will explode for you. And they'll be a supervillain! Maybe two! Doesn't that sound fun?**


	10. Chapter 9 A Little Piece of Home

**Let me just say real quick, you guys are awesome. Thank you so much for your patience, considering this chapter is over two weeks late, but in my defense I was in the middle of moving all week, plus homework, taxes, applying for online banking, photo shooting for my photography class, and the three final projects I have to work on. Seriously it's a miracle that I was able to get this done. How did I manage to get this done, anyways?**

**Wait a minute… I have moved people. OMG! I am out of the house and I feel… kinda weird. There's too much freedom! I need structure!**

**I don't own anything, except Faye and the plot and the Wren personality of Mar'i but not Mar'i whom is Starfire's and Dick Grayson's daughter because I didn't come up with her. Everything else is DC Comics and Warner Bros.**

* * *

**Chapter 9  
a Little Piece of Home**

"And just what exactly is this?"

Wren frowned, glancing up at Bloodwynd with a blank expression. "What do you mean? It is the amount you specified in the document."

"This is hardly half of what we agreed upon."

Wren glared and clenched her teeth, becoming impatient by his insistence that the amount was wrong. "That is impossible. I was certain to check my contract to ensure I had the exact amount before meeting with you. It is all right there."

"Is that a fact?"

"It is."

"Well take a second glance at this." Bloodwynd pulled out his own copy and slid it under her nose. Curiously, she looked to the line he was pointing to and read the sentence aloud.

"In the case that the payment is not made on the day of treatment, the cost will increase each day with interest."

Wren was outraged as she stood up angrily. "I did not see this before!"

Bloodwynd smiled and pocketed the contract. "But you just did."

"I was not informed of such a thing on that contract! Otherwise I would not have signed such a document! I assure you there is no such agreement on my copy."

"Then go and fetch your copy, but I assure you, whatever you see on my document will be seen on yours as well. They are identical after all."

"I do not see why I am indebted by so much! You hardly did a thing for my friend in the first place, considering she is still bedridden and ill. So when, exactly, was your supposed miracle treatment going to cure her? We've still yet to receive what you promised us!"

Bloodwynd stood to his full height, towering over Wren like a basketball player. "Are you questioning my might, little one?"

"Perhaps I am." She dared to say.

Bloodwynd chuckled and sat back down himself. "I feel it's only fair to warn you of the power you're facing. I have god on my side, little girl, otherwise I would not have been able to perform such feats." He leaned closer towards her. "But if you still hold doubts perhaps you would care to see another demonstration. I could clamp your mouth shut for an entire week if that would suit you better. Or maybe paralyze your arms?"

Wren glared up at him. She held just the smallest trace of anticipation at the idea of what he could do to her. She certainly didn't want to go a week without opening her mouth or using her hands. Then she would be out for a week without work and the interest would rise even higher.

"So as soon as I raise this amount right here, say by tomorrow, I will have paid off my debt?"

"Exactly that amount."

"Well fine then. But when exactly is my friend going to get better. I am not intending to pay you anything until I see results from her."

"Don't be so skeptical. Believing is seeing. If you want her to get better, it might help if you believed she will."

"No."

Bloodwynd paused. "What did you say?"

"I said, no." Wren stood up again, glaring back at him in the eye. "I will believe it when it is done. Not before!" She snapped angrily. "And I will pay you when she _is_ better. Not before!"

Bloodwynd didn't say anything for a moment. Instead, he got to his feet and smiled back at her. Wren didn't like the grin he sent her. Suddenly Wren felt a throbbing in her head and her stomach felt nauseous in a way that made if feel like she would throw up everything inside her; stomach, guts, and lungs. Her brow was also heated up so hot, she thought for a moment she was on fire.

Her hand rose to her brow and she swayed drunkenly. "Wha—what's going on?"

"Results." Bloodwynd answered casually. "Isn't that what you were after?"

"This is not what I wanted."

"You wanted you're friend to get better, no? Well as of this moment her illness is lifting, to be saddled on you."

"I wanted her to be cured, not transmit another disease!"

"Why didn't you say so?"

"Scum!" Wren hissed collapsing back in her chair. "I will not pay you another dime!"

Without warning, the sickness she'd been feeling was gone entirely. She blinked and saw Bloodwynd bearing down on her, one arm on either side of her and caging her in the wooden chair while she leaned away from his daunting smile. "It's not the wisest move to challenge a magician of my abilities. It might be wise not to test my anger, especially when you have yet to get what you want."

"You, too, have yet to receive what you want." Wren dared to say.

"Yes, but unlike you, I sincerely believe I'm going to get it. After all, it would be very unfortunate if anyone else were to fall victim of your friend's condition."

* * *

"That stupid bitch doctor swung us didn't he?"

Or at least that's what Faye would have said, if Wren had had the courage to tell her of what happened after her visit that morning with Bloodwynd.

"'At guy was pure smoke n' mirrors." She would say.

"I am afraid not, Faye." Wren said to her imaginary friend. "There were no smoke and mirrors to be found anywhere up that evil man's sleeves… if, of course, he had sleeves."

She groaned looking up towards the sky. She wasn't known for talking to herself, but this was a problem that may have better results if voiced aloud, despite her upbringing to concentrate silently. "What am I going to do? That… HORRIBLE MAN, is going to squeeze us dry if I do not come up with some sort of plan."

She sighed, relishing in the unfairness of the situation and having stomached the bitter taste of blackmail, first hand.

Before she started living on her own, she had never really taken the concept of money very seriously. Slade had been sure to teach her the importance of it but he neglected to teach her what kind of value it actually served to the rest of the world. Now that she was without it, she valued it more than she ever thought or imagined.

Thinking about Slade and thinking about money now got her thinking about her apprenticeship. Normally apprentices got paid. Why didn't she ever get paid? Why didn't she ever ask to get paid?

Because she never needed money before! That's why!

Her head bowed up and she groaned loudly. "As Faye would say, "this sucks!" Perhaps I could ask for more hours." Wren thought aloud. "Or perhaps I could just go back there and kick that man in crotch!"

She paused upon thinking it over and groaned again. There was no way she would be able to do such a thing. If Bloodwynd could so easily manipulate a person's bodily functions then what else could he do to her? She didn't know enough about him to really stand and fight and it was doubtful that that would help anyways. He might just make Faye sicker.

The only way this was going to work was if she played it by ear… for the moment at least.

* * *

"Good afternoon."

"Afternoon." Mr. and Mrs. Kent answered together when Wren entered that day for lunch at noon. Her late night had made her sleep in, but she had announced at dinner the night before that she would be more than willing to assist the farmer in his work with the chores if it meant bigger pay day for her.

"What is the schedule for today? I was not here for morning chores but I still wish to pull my weight."

"Wait a minute, kiddo." Martha said. "How's your friend doing today?"

"She is still ill, but is sure to improve once I've earned enough to pay for her doctor's bill. So if there is work available here I am willing to do whatever is necessary to earn my keep."

The two adults exchanged surprised glances. It was odd to see a child so eager to work.

"If you're gung ho on helping with more than just keeping a sharp eye, then first thing's first." Mr. Kent said. "Hold out your hands."

Without a word, she did as she was told and Mr. Kent inspected them in his own, turning them over and studying them with interest. The number of callouses littered over her hands was astonishing. "You've been working hard for quite a while, haven't you?"

"For my whole life, sir," Wren announced with little emotion.

"Well if you think you can handle it, I'm gunna let you help me in the fields today."

"I am prepared to do whatever work is necessary. But before we begin, I would like to inquire when you are planning to pay me for my services?"

"When do you need the money?"

"As soon as possible, really."

"Then is tomorrow okay for you?"

"Tomorrow… is acceptable."

The next few hours were served on the land, where Mr. Kent had her do a number of things ranging from putting up fence posts to herding animals into newly installed pens. Her work paid off and was highly appreciated by Mr. Kent. But before she had the chance to get into the seriously strenuous work, Mr. Kent asked her if she intended to look out again that evening, to which she replied with, "Of course."

By that announcement, Mr. Kent ordered her to put her tools down and get some rest for the late night, near to come. She argued for a moment, but with some coaxing, Mr. Kent convinced her to go.

It at least provided her with an opportunity to check on her ill friend, but wasn't surprised when there appeared to be no improvement from this morning.

Wren lied on her pillow, willing sleep to come to her, but when it did at last, she was woken up just as suddenly to the sound of the dinner bell from Mrs. Kent.

It was remarkable, but Mrs. Kent's cooking was probably some of the best she had had in her life. The meatloaf and mashed potatoes was definitely an excuse to stay for a few more nights, and she mourned the fact that Faye could not enjoy them with her.

As she was getting prepped for her look out, she decided to take the same route she had the night before.

With the quiet air of the evening, it gave her an opportunity to think about the dilemma with Bloodwynd, and how she was going to be able to earn enough to pay off their debt plus the interest he had weaseled into the bill.

If only she could have had her thoughts more concentrated on her physical surroundings.

Wren's ears perked suddenly at the sound of something rushing towards her. Her eyes looked up just in time to watch as something huge and flaming came falling where she was standing for the moment. Without thinking, she leapt out of the way right before it could crush her into the earth. She was thrown off her feet at the strength of its impact and landed twenty feet away. For a moment she didn't dare move, choosing to instead test her senses and the damage they had taken from the harsh landing. She panicked suddenly when she began to feel the burn of the explosion on her back, realizing quickly that it was because her hoodie was on fire.

She jumped to her feet and tossed it off her, watching it burn to nothing on the ground. It was at that moment she finally had a good look at what had fallen out of the sky.

"A… man?"

Well in a way it was. Alien probably would have been more appropriate. He was tall, taller than any man she'd ever met. She guessed his size to be up to twelve feet at the least. He was white, not Caucasian white, but white-white, the color of paste. And he had a distinct biker look with long black mustache and heavy thick jacket, made from the skin of some foreign animal she had never seen or heard of before.

Memory clicked and she suddenly realized who this was. "Lobo?"

"Kizy fem!" he muttered, looking at her like she were nothing but a flea.

She didn't know what "kizy fem" meant, and in all honesty, she didn't much care. She got to her feet and studied the threat with complete attention.

Her master taught her to never engage with an opponent until she knew more about him. What she did know about Lobo was that he was an alien (of course) he was also rivaled with Superman. He was an intergalactic bounty hunter, hot headed, and practically indestructible .If he was tough enough to take on the man of steel, she was no match for such an opponent without proper equipment and she knew it.

A gunshot ripped the night air at that moment with dog barks accompanying it. Mr. Kent was beyond the way holding a rifle and firing away at Lobo. The bullets bounced off his skin, doing about as much affect as candy corn. "I don't' know why you're here, Lobo, but you had better get off my property, alien thug!"

"Kezy fem sol relio, blowho."

He started towards the older man, but Wren immediately stepped in his way. She wasn't about to let her employer get flattened under a two-ton foot. He hadn't paid her yet!

…And he was a good person, so there was also that.

"I am afraid I cannot allow you to harm my benefactor. Why don't you take your business elsewhere, bounty hunter?"

He pounded his fist threateningly, preparing for a fight. "Dringta, ebnashala nisa cro."

Wren didn't understand his diction for this. Most aliens had translators in hand when visiting other planets. Why did he continue… her eye caught on a sparking wire on his belt and her brain suddenly registered why this was.

"Broken translator. Figures. Whatever you desire you had just better…"

Her words stopped when he gripped her face roughly in his fist. Her entire head fit comfortably in his whole palm, like a weirdly shaped helmet. With hardly an effort she knew he could squash her skull to mulch in an instant. Instead, he just tossed her out of the way from his initial target.

She was thrown twenty feet away and landed in a crouch. Lobo approached Mr. Kent, whom continued to fire hastily, till his gun had clicked away all his ammunition. Lobo's hand snapped out and gripped him around the neck, squeezing until Mr. Kent's eyes rolled up and he struggled no more. At that moment, Wren took her chance while his attention was diverted.

She jumped and caught him around the neck of his jacket, using it to pull herself up and strike him in the face. Somehow it even took her a little off-guard by how strong it managed to be. He stumbled and dropped Mr. Kent, where he crumbled to the ground in an unconscious heap. The dog barked twice more and ran over to him, licking his face in the hopes of rousing his master.

Before Wren knew it, she was fighting one of Superman's most durable opponents. She dodged his hand as it came at her and faced him with her fists ready. "I do not know what you want with this old man, Alien, but I cannot allow you to kill my employer! He has not paid us yet. But it does not matter. You shall leave this property at once!"

He spat and looked her up and down. His brow seemed to rise slightly when he caught sight of her eyes. "Kezy fem… Tameranian? Drizda mek ra bristol Troq!"

"Yes, yes, bristol troq!" She repeated, rolling her eyes at the unfamiliar insult. "I am certain I have been called much worse… I think?"

She let her fist do the talking at this point. She may not have been as strong or big as Lobo, but her size could be used to an advantage while she dodged his assaults. She could not deny he lacked speed. He had caught her thrice off-guard and had managed to throw her off him some feet away. But she was persistent in keeping the alien from getting his mitts on Mr. Kent, if not because he was a good man (and she would certainly hate to see him get seriously injured), then merely to entrust her employer wasn't killed before she received her pay.

Lobo slapped the air, trying to catch her while she dodged his assaults. He muttered in his alien tongue, using words meant to, no doubt, insult her. His favored among these were Troq.

"Slez yag nom bol istron TROQ! Destroba ne sal ve Supren e` mun!"

"If you wish me to know what you are referring to, perhaps you ought to fix that sparking piece of junk on your belt?"

Her words, whether he could understand or not, seemed to infuriate him more than intended. He grabbed a boulder protruding from the ground and pulled it out of the field. With hardly an effort he tossed it at her and she ducked, feeling it hurl over inches away from her scalp. With his distraction, Lobo took the opportunity to leap and hit her in the gut.

The strength of his blow was overwhelming. Not even her master had delivered a blow this powerful. She thought her body would be prepared for it. She thought her training would permit her to endure, but her knees gave way to the punch, and she hit the ground in a crumpled position. Her body shook and it was like she was trying to breathe in cotton. Air refused to enter her lungs and she thought if she wouldn't die from the blow, then suffocation would claim her first.

Lobo's feet entered her eyesight and she looked up to see him standing over her.

"Trin t frag im, Troq!"

Somehow, by the tone in his voice, she knew what he was trying to say. "Time to die, Troq."

"Not likely." She answered, moving right when he did.

She must have slipped up, because while in the middle of a handstand out of the way, he caught her by her leg and threw, hard, into a silo three hundred feet away. She collided with the side of it and slid to the ground, unable to take any more of the punishment. Her mind was just about to enter into blissful unconsciousness when she suddenly found herself in the grip of his meaty hand once more.

"Di ran indra nomo Lobo? Lobo, solista nisa Troq."

For a moment, she partly wondered if she hadn't slipped into unconsciousness after all, because what happened next HAD to be a dream! It just HAD to be! Or a nightmare!

One minute Lobo had her pinned against the wall, shouting in some language she didn't understand, and the next, he had her pinned against a wall—KISSING HER!

Now Wren wasn't an imbecile. She was naive about certain aspects about normal lifestyles as Faye had demonstrated many times before, BUT SHE KNEW WHAT A KISS MEANT! And this man… THIS THING!.. was decades older than her. For all she knew, he could be CENTURIES older than her. She was nine! This was pedophilia in the first degree!

To make matters worse, the man stunk with liquor, smoke, and something that was like gasoline but a stronger alien substitute for fueling spaceships across the galaxy. It seemed to last forever for her; stuck in his grip and hands clawing the air in search of some pulley to get her away from the twisted monster that had hold of her.

Even while all this was going through her head, she could feel a sudden rush sweeping through her brain, like the way her mind raced when she worked out the answer to a problem. When, at last, the thug released her, she breathed in the glorious scent of fresh air. Once her mind realized she was free from him, her face was scarlet and seething with… was it fury?

It was so new and unlike any anger she had ever felt, that she couldn't be quite sure. All she was sure of, was that her honor had just been severely violated and measures needed to be taken to right what this creep had done to her.

She was on the verge of shouting every filthy word she had learned from Faye and, for one moment, her eyes blazed a bright, raging blue in response to how violated she felt. Yet before she could rent even one curse on the thug, he tossed her away like a rag doll and she skidded harshly in the dirt. With her landing he spat his own disgust for what he had been led to do.

"Filthy Troq. Don't you ever make me do that again!"

"M—MAKE YOU?!" She got to her feet, staggering a little by the beating she had taken from him, and yelled back. "HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO ME! NAUGHT HAVE I EVER DESIRED ANYTHING MORE THAN TO GRIP AN ENEMY'S EAR AND PEAL THAT THING WHICH YOU DEEM A FACE RIGHT OFF OF…" She stopped suddenly as a sudden unexplainable realization hit her full force. "Why can I understand you now?"

"Dumbass boy!" He huffed, wiping his mouth again. So that might have explained his disgust for kissing her. He thought she was male. To her clothes, her cap, her hair, and her neglect to wear makeup that morning, maybe she couldn't blame him. But that still didn't explain why he kissed her! If anything, that was more reason to NOT kiss her!

"Your kind can learn any language through lip contact." He explained with annoyance. "But enough with that, where's Supes?"

Wren felt whiplashed and confused beyond normal with his statement. "Huh? My kind?"

"Idiot! This is his digs, in't? That's his old man over there! So where is he?"

"Supes?"

Could that have been Superman? Well yes or no, she had no intention of assisting him after what he had just done to her. She glared at him and answered in a deadly tone, "Whomever you are in pursuit of does not live here. I suggest you take your search somewhere else. You will have no success at this farm."

He grunted, looking up in the sky as if expecting something, but was surely disappointed. "Ah… guess not. He would have been out here by now if he were anywhere near this place. Fine, but before I go…"

It wasn't what Wren had been expecting. Not then anyways. Lobo was talking one second and the next, his foot dodged into her vision suddenly and smacked her so hard she wouldn't have even felt it unless she were looking at it.

* * *

The alien turned just as he had kicked the small Tameranian boy into the silo, doing his best to throw the runt into unconsciousness in the process. It was demeaning to fight with a lower life form belonging to such a broken heritage as the Tameranian Empire. It was even more demeaning to have been reduced to lip-to-lip exchange just in order to get the brat to listen for a millisecond while he explained why he was here. Yet even then, the dunce wouldn't listen to what the biker had needed to tell him, so further attempts would be useless.

Out of frustration (and his own perverse satisfaction) he had made sure to get the boy good by smacking him hard enough to leave a good sized bruise on him.

"Lobo!"

With the sound of his name, Lobo turned to see the very man he was looking for, rushing down towards him.

"Bout time!" Lobo said in his native Czarnian. "I was getting impatient."

But rather than his normal let's-talk-this-through disposition Supes had the first few times they had crossed paths with one another, the Kryptonian looked positively livid. Without warning he rushed at the Main Man and socked him hard in the jaw. Lobo flew back into a different silo, leaving a Lobo shaped dent in the flimsy tin.

"What the frag!" He looked up but groaned when the person he was looking at wasn't Mr. Red and Blue as he had hoped, but the cheap clone imitation he recognized as Superboy. "Oh great, another runt!"

The boy yelled in fury, demanding a question in his own Earthling language, to which Lobo replied with a punch to his jaw. The boy skidded several yards away, climbing back to his feet, almost instantly.

"The Main Man only talks with the Big Supes. No lackeys accepted!"

That hardly seemed to matter to the boy as he rushed once more at him and began to battle him with every bit of strength the kid had.

Lobo was beginning to regret sending the only translator he had to dreamland, even if that translator _was_ a filthy Troq to begin with. With his belt in disrepair and his wheels confiscated thanks to some idiot called Lexcorp, there was only one person on this crumby planet who understood what he was saying.

He had come to this spec of a farm with the belief that this was where he would find Superman. Instead all he found were two hybrid aliens that served no purpose to him at all.

"I don't have time for this." He spat, finally getting impatient with the constant battle around the plowed field. He tossed the boy away, far enough for him to get a running start so he could leap into the air and take his leave. Normally he wasn't into running from a fight, but this was an emergency and he couldn't waste his time playing with a little nothing like Li'L Supes and Troq filth.

His bike was getting further and further away from him with every passing moment.

* * *

The rage Conner felt with the invasion of his second home only increased with the beating he'd received by the thug's fists. He skidded several yards away as Lobo turned to leap into the air and out of sight, much in the same way Conner was used to doing himself. He got to his feet and attempted to pursue the threat, but stopped when the sound of Martha was heard over the settling dust around the field.

"Conner, stop! There's no point." He turned and watched as she rushed to where her husband had fallen. "He's gone and we need you here." Instantly, his attention was diverted to his adopted grandfather lying in the dirt.

"He's okay." Conner announced, coming over and kneeling to inspect the damage caused by the lunatic. "He just winded him. I can hear his heart and breathing."

"What about her?"

Conner looked to where she was pointing and spotted the girl lying some feet away at the base of a silo, just as unconscious as Jonathan was.

"We have to get them inside." Martha said, trying to lift her husband from the ground.

Conner took him in his own and rushed the man up the stairs to the bedroom. He was out the door and by the girl's side within twenty seconds, lifting her in his arms and carrying her to the living room couch.

"She's going to be out cold for the rest of the night and a lot of the next morning." Martha said, rushing back with a damp towel to drape over her forehead.

"No broken bones." Conner said, examining her arms and legs. "That's lucky… and a surprise. Normally Lobo leaves his targets mutilated."

"Then it's a good thing." Martha stated turning towards the stairs. "I'll keep an eye on Jonathan. You stay with her in case she wakes up."

"Wait. What's her name?"

"Wren."

* * *

"Ugh…" Her head was spinning and she was having the worse trouble, ever, of moving. Her eyes focused on a white ceiling and she could see spots dancing in her vision. Somewhere in the distance, a rooster crowed insistently. Morning light filtered through the room and her mouth tasted dry.

"She's waking up." A voice said somewhere off to the side.

Mrs. Kent's face came into view at that moment. "Wren? How are you feeling?"

She had the distinct sensation of a damp cloth over her brow and cushions under her. Memories of the night before hit her at full force that very same moment.

"ENGLISH! I AM SPEAKING ENGLISH!" She yelled, snapping up far quicker than she should have. The impulsive move made her dizzy, causing a head rush and a migraine to enflame under her scalp.

"Whoa, Wren! Lie down. Of course you're speaking English. What other language would you be speaking?"

She stared at the woman, her eyes wide with no answer to her question, since Wren herself hadn't known to begin with.

She looked at the new person in the room, whom she recognized as a younger version of the black-haired man from the photograph; Who was he? A son? A grandson maybe? When had he arrived?

"Um… last night…" She began looking from one person to the next. "What happened exactly?"

"Lobo happened." The teen said, interrupting Martha before she could begin. "You were lucky you weren't killed."

"Um… perhaps introductions are in order?" Wren said before they could continue. "I am Wren, and you are…"

"Oh—Conner. Conner Kent. Clark's son."

"Oh… I saw no picture of you."

"Right here." Martha announced, producing a framed photograph from out of nowhere.

"Lobo…" Her stomach turned at the memory, and she had a great desire to curse his name with every fowl word she knew of including a few she created herself. "Oh right. That… HORRIBLE THING! He attacked the farm. Biker thug! Is your husband alright? The last I saw of him, Lobo was attempting to choke him. I hope he did not succeed."

"He's upstairs in bed." Mrs. Kent informed with relief. Her voice was filled with gratitude for the girl and the wonderful service she had done for the family. "You might have saved his life, Wren. If you weren't there when you were…" She didn't finish the unthinkable thought, but it was unnecessary. Wren felt nothing with her gratitude.

"I did not do much, Mrs. Kent. I really didn't."

"Don't sell yourself so short." Conner said, taking a step towards her. "You kept Lobo's attention from his target and may have very well saved my grandfather's life. We owe you a lot. If you hadn't been there…"

"... Then the dog would have alerted others to his presence, sooner or later." Wren finished, unwilling to take credit in the little that she had actually done. "I doubt I did much but keep his attention diverted for very long. And I did not do it very well as you can see by my demeanor." She gestured to her beaten body and ripped clothes. Pity… She had really liked the outfit.

"Are you serious?" Conner blurted, unable to hold back his shock. "Do you even know what you just went up against?"

"Yes." She answered simply. "I have seen Lobo cause ruckus and mayhem on the news before."

"Kid, you just faced down seven tons of solid steel and nerve. That guy could arm-wrestle Hulk and sip beer at the same time. You're lucky to leave here with just a shiner and black eye. That man could have turned your bones into gravel with a well-placed kick."

"Right… Well despite the fact that part of your field is now a crater, you are still planning to pay me, right?"

Before Martha could answer, they all turned when the screen door suddenly swung open. Faye strolled in, wrapped tightly in one of the blankets on her bed and bare footed. She looked at the three in the living room with a blank expression at first.

"Ya would not _believe_ the dream I had last night." She announced sniffing loudly. "By the way what happened t' the yard? Looks like a stampede of construction machines went through dere."

* * *

**Yes... Lobo did kiss Wren, but only because his transmitter was broken and there was really no other choice if he wanted someone to understand what he was saying. ****I also incorporated the slang insult "troq", which is used in the series to refer to Tamaraneans to other alien races. Wren has no idea what "troq" means, which is why she doesn't get offended when Lobo repeatedly calls her such. His revulsion to kissing her is mostly due to the fact that he mistakes her to be a boy at first and is frustrated that he needed to be reduced to such a level. If you've ever heard of, I think it's Infinite Crisis, there's really a moment in there where Starfire and Lobo actually have a conversation. In which Lobo, in all his crude and rude nature, tears off her top, thus revealing her naked torso. I guess anything in a skirt for him.**

**And yes, technically that was Wren's first kiss. Honestly this idea just sort of came to me out of nowhere. One of those you-know-what-would-happen-if-this-happened "moments". Wren at this time is feeling real confused, because Slade's never explained this sort of thing to her, Faye's sort of explained it but she can't really relate to how Wren's feeling since Wren's been considerably sheltered her whole life. There'll be more explanation to her feelings on this in the next chapter.**

**With the whole idea of him finding out who Superman is and figuring out where he lived, that's just a possibility that doesn't really matter in the whole grand scheme of what's going on in the story. So we probably won't be seeing much of Lobo ever again. **

**This chapter was soooooo hard for me to write, mostly in view of the personal dilemmas that postponed this chapter for two more weeks. But thank you everyone for your reviews, patience, and support. You've no idea how awesome the really are.**

**Thank you again and please read and review.**


	11. Chapter 10 True Colors

**Yay, new chapter everyone! And guess what! Slade's back! Well sort of. A little. You hear from him but he doesn't catch up with Wren. Oh crap did I just spoil it. Well you were going to find out soon enough but not in this chapter.**

**A lot of this chapter, especially the first part, I kinda sorta pulled out of my ass. I needed something to explain what happened with Bloodwynd and if I had really bothered to give it more thought then it might have been a little better. But it is what it is. Also I was in a hurry to get this posted and didn't really have a whole lot of time to edit really, so please forgive me if you spot errors, misspellings, or get confused on some parts. I assure you, it's not intentional.**

**I don't own—Hey here's a thought; what would happen if I **_**did**_** say that I own Superboy and Smallville and Deathstroke the Terminator and all those other characters? Huh? It doesn't mean it's true. I mean I could say that Got Milk was my idea… but the saying is older than I am, so that can't be true. Or I could say that jelly filled gummy bugs was my idea—WELL IT ACTUALLY WAS! UNTILL BLACK FOREST SECRET SPY AGENTS HEARD OF MY IDEA AND SCREWED ME OVER WHEN I WAS TEN!**

**But seriously all I own here is pretty much the story and Faye… Wren too, but not Mar'i who is Wren but she doesn't know who she really is, if you know what I mean.**

* * *

**Chapter 10  
True Colors**

"It looks like your fever is finally starting to break." Wren said testing Faye's temperature in the kitchen.

"You know, you both really shouldn't be up." Martha announced to both Wren and Faye. "After the beating you took, Wren, and your fever, Faye, you both should be taking it easy."

"Balls to 'at." Faye stated crudely.

"Ahem!" Wren coughed, glaring down at her friend by her poor word choice.

Faye shrank away, amending her statement politely. "I mean… we're okay. It's not like we haven't had worse."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Say where's the boss man?"

"He is upstairs." Wren explained. "There was a bit of a… problem last night."

"Does it have something t' do with the craters in the yard?"

"A bit."

"And… who might Mr. Tall, Dark, and Hottie be?"

"Grandson."

"Ohhhhh… so is there a girlfriend in the equation of—OW!"

She stopped abruptly when Wren elbowed her roughly, ordering her to stop. "Faye, please. You are being rude."

Faye sniffed loudly, drawing up the rest of the snot in her nose and looking indignant. "I'm sick, I'm not blind. Can you blame me?"

"How do you feel to some food?" Martha said, graciously changing the subject and spooning up a bowl of hot porridge for both of them.

"Sound's good." Faye took a spoon and mixed some honey in her own bowl "Living on liquids for three days, so something solid sounds pretty good."

"By the way, did you two go to a doctor at all for her?"

"We did not have sufficient funds to take her to see a licensed physician, but I did take her to see that Bloodwynd."

"Wait? Bloodwynd? As in the witch doctor?"

Wren didn't like the sound of that. "Yes."

"You're kidding. Bloodwynd is a complete phony. He moved into town about three years ago after he sunk to the bottom with debt he assimilated back in New Orleans. He got his name from a real magic user that went by that name some time ago, but the original Bloodwynd died years and years ago. His real name is Edwin Freefoot. He's been passing off his old magic act as his supposed "miracle cure" to poor out-of-towners like you."

Faye got to her feet, staggering slightly due to her illness. "You mean… that bitch doctor swung us?!"

"But I have seen his magic? He cursed me for a time."

"No he can't curse anyone. What he does is trigger a device that sends off a frequency that specifically effects to the senses. It's a sonic frequency too high for humans to hear but enough for them to feel. What you thought was probably Nausea and a flu was just the kick of the generator turning on." Martha said causally. "Purely smoke and mirrors to put it plainly."

Wren's face went red… either with anger or with embarrassment of being so stupid as to be duped by a cheap stage trick. "I knew it." She got to her feet, turning towards the door. "I am going out. I will be back very soon."

And before anyone could call her back, Wren was out the door and headed to a destination both the women could guess to.

"Have a nice time." Faye called to her back.

* * *

"Oh so it's you?" Bloodwynd announced when she strode in his office unexpectedly.

"Yes. Me."

"Have you come to settle the bill?"

Wren came closer as she answered. "Yes."

"That's good to hear. It's nice to see you're taking a whole new initiative to this. Better to accept things you cannot change rather than fight them. Much better, wouldn't you say. I'm glad you've come to settle the bill."

"I have only come to settle _your_ bill."

"My bill?"

Without waiting, Wren came up, leapt on the table (to give herself height to reach him) and socked hard him in the jaw. He fell to the ground fuming and beside himself with outrage.

Wren went on as if it was no more disturbing than swatting away a fly. "I know your game, Witchdoctor. I know there is not a drop of magical blood in you. And I know you have merely been playing me for a tourist fool. So let us get something strait." She grabbed him up by the collar of his coat and looked him straight in the eye. "From this moment on, you receive nothing more from me. Not a dime not a penny. What I should really do, is scour this entire building in search of the money you swindled from us. But that is not necessary. You hold no threat to our journey so I do not think further action is required."

She released him and he slid back to the ground. "Be warned," Wren threatened with little emotion, "had you faced me three weeks ago, I would have been very capable of claiming your life. I am still capable, but I have not the heart to do it. I did not always have one, but I do now… I think."

By those words, she turned from him and meant to leave out the door. Unfortunately, she didn't get very far. "Little runt. You actually think you can scare me. I am Bloodwynd. I posses powers you can scarcely dream of. With the bloodgem… I can do anything."

"Bloodgem…?" Why did that sound familiar to her? The world suddenly slowed down for her. She sensed him moving from behind, and felt a great rush of energy spiking towards her. Instinctively, she leapt out of harm's way, twisting to face her attacker as the red flair lit up the door she blocked just a moment before. A second too late and she would have been incinerated with the wood.

Bloodwynd was knelt on the ground pointing a bright, red gemstone at her. It blazed dimly, flickering like a dying candle flame. "I do have magical blood in me, shrimp. A drop, as a matter of fact. It's just enough to allow me to conjure just the tiniest bit of infinite power within this stone."

Wren glared at him, realized instantly what he was meaning to do.

"My miracle cure might have been a trick but this sure isn't. I could roast you with one thought... or I could roast your friend."

By that thought, Wren's eyes went wide.

"That's right, even from this distance I can get quite a kick on it." He grinned, showing off four rotten teeth. "But I don't have to do that, so this is what's going to happen. You're going to work for me now. If you don't do everything I say, you can go ahead and kiss your little girlfriend goodb—"

A vase cut him off shortly when it collided suddenly with his face. Wren had snatched up the first thing her fingers met against and chucked it at her opponent with all the strength she had to muster, which was quite a lot.

She moved quickly while the man took his time to nurse his bleeding nose. In just three moves she had, disoriented him, tripped him, and seized the gem from his hands. With the exchange of masters, the gem stopped blazing immediately. It seemed Wren had no magic in her blood to speak of.

"Trying to blackmail me again? You have quite a bit of nerve. I mean, I am not surprised you underestimate me. I am only a child after all."

"How dare you lay your filthy unworthy hands on a sacred treasure!" Bloodwynd yelled angrily.

"Like you are one to talk." Wren shot back. "You react towards this as if it were actually yours. But if it were, it would not spark like a firecracker dud, but blaze like a blinding inferno. You are no more fit to own this gem than I am."

"Return it at once you little—,"

"Actually, I think I will keep it. To compensate for what you swindled from us and countless others."

"How dare you. If you do not return it at once—"

"—You'll what? Use this on me?" She held up the sonic device he had used to make her think he had cursed her with Faye's illness. She had suspected that his device would need to be relatively close and inside the room to have such an effect on her. Her thoughts were on the table and she had been spot on. When she had leapt on it, her hand had slipped quickly under and snatched the device taped underneath. Now she held it up to him, disarmed and useless to any command Bloodwynd could send it with his remote.

He spouted, clearly stunned and outraged. "When—How did you—?"

"I have been trained since infancy on how to control a situation to my advantage. You are not the only one with tricks." The device dropped from her and clanked to the floor. Her foot lifted and she smashed it to pieces, so it could never be used to swindle another ignorant traveler again. The gem, she pocketed and turned from him once more, knowing there were no more weapons he could use against her.

"You'll pay for this you little brat!" He vowed angrily. "I'll find you!"

"Good luck with that." Wren said dismissively while she exited through the door.

As she walked from the shop, steadily down the street, a voice caught her attention. "So I guess your bill's been settled."

She looked up and spotted Conner leaning against an alley wall behind her. His arms were crossed and he had an unexpressive look on his face.

Wren looked at him sideways while her gaze narrowed suspiciously at him. Just how much of that had he heard? "Why did you follow me?"

"Martha was worried that you might do something foolish."

"What I do outside of work is none of her concern." Wren said. "She should worry about her family. Starting with her husband. How is he, now?"

"He's awake and unharmed. But that's not the real issue here." Conner got up and looked at her square in the face. "What did you do in there?"

"I did not injure him, if that is your concern, but I did take back what he owed for cheating us."

"And how much was that exactly?"

Wren could feel the weight of the gem in her pocket getting heavier by his question. "I told you, just what he tricked from us. And as soon as Faye is able, we can leave your farm. I'm sorry for the destruction caused, and I'll help as much as I can to resort what was damaged, but I won't take fault for something that is not my doing."

"I didn't blame you for the damage."

"No, but it felt that may have been what you were implying."

Conner didn't answer, so Wren took it as a sign that this conversation was over. "By the way… just who taught you how to fight like that?"

Wren turned back to him. "I will tell you who taught me, when you tell me who taught you… Superboy."

Conner's eyes widened at the sound of his name. Her gaze never left him. "I am not an idiot. Do you know what Lobo said while he faced me?" He didn't answer and she hadn't been looking for one. "Though his words were very much incomprehensive, what he managed to phrase were what sounded like questions. And the one thing he seemed to repeatedly say was Supren e` mun. I assume that meant Superman." She explained it all slowly, making sure he followed with her. "You're not old enough to be Superman, so I'm going to assume you must be the adolescent component of the meta-hero. There was also the additional damage caused after I awoke. You must have a relatively strong hide to stand against someone of his strength, that or some very light feet."

"Light feet? You mean like yours?"

"In a way."

Conner, or Superboy, didn't say anything. Instead he glared at her, measuring her up. "What are you planning to do?"

"You mean in concern with your secret identity? Nothing. Honestly I do not care who you are. Just leave me and my friend alone. We are not doing anything illegal. And all we want is to be left alone on our journey." Like Bloodwynd, she turned her back on him as well, except this time, no one tried to attack her.

* * *

"Finally!" Slade said angrily, as his smart phone reported that one of his robots had picked up his apprentice's trail once again. It seemed that at times she would crop up just to drop off the face of the earth yet again. The GPS signal was actually giving him coordinates in…

Smallville!

"Goddamn it, Wren!" Slade cursed with frustration. Why the hell did she need to go there? The hometown of Superman of all places! There was only one other city in the world that would have been worse. Only one!

And that was Gotham, where her father, and most highly, her grandfather, reigned supreme over all others.

Most people would argue that Smallville was no place to get worked up over when Metropolis, the city Superman currently resided in, would have been a far worse location for his apprentice to wonder in. But as Slade weighed the risks involving it, he saw that the smaller town was a far worse outcome than anything a large city could do for him.

For one thing, fewer people meant that there was a better chance someone may recognize her. Superman, (and yes Slade did know he was actually Clark Kent) knew Dick Grayson closely. The man of steel, undoubtedly, knew the Grayson daughter was missing, and he also knew she would be Wren's precise age.

He eagerly turned on the news, and searched for channels under the present whereabouts of the Kryptonian. He allowed himself to breathe easy when, in less than three clicks, he spotted the familiar shield S insignia on one of the news reals. For the moment, he was held up in Guatemala, battling with a creature the news anchors were calling, "Doomsday."

"Good." Slade said to the alien thousands of miles away. "Stay there."

For the moment, he booked a plane ticket for the next flight bringing him closest to Smallville. He was done playing around with this and was finished taking any more chances. He'd go straight to the source this time and bring his apprentice back himself.

He only hoped the Doomsday creature would keep Superman busy long enough for Slade to finish his business in the farmer's town. Yet there still was the fear that one of the other two, Supergirl or Superboy, could have known about Grayson's missing daughter and be able to connect the dots themselves. He suspected Supergirl might figure it out, though she wasn't affiliated with Nightwing as well as she was with Batgirl. Superboy on the other hand probably might not figure out, when considering the infant Mar'i had been taken far before anyone knew of Superboy's conception as a clone.

Slade needed to keep the belief that there was still hope to fix this. He just needed to reach his apprentice before any more damage could be done to his plans.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to stay a bit longer?" Martha asked, as the girls were bidding them farewell. "It's no trouble and we could certainly use the help."

"No, we have lingered too long." Wren announced, swinging her bag over her shoulder. "It is high time we returned to our journey."

"What she said," Faye added, shrugging on her red leather jacket. Five days of bed rest, runny noses, headaches, and drinking most of her meals had healed her, at last. That all with the smallest bit of medication thanks to the kindness of the Kents.

"Well I hope you two stay safe wherever you're headed." Mr. Kent said, standing by his wife while the girls prepared for the journey ahead of them.

"We will try. And thank you much for your kindness and hospitality."

"Yeah. And for putting up with my germs." Faye interjected.

"It was no trouble. We're just glad you're alright." Without prior warning, Martha reached over and embraced Faye. The dark girl stumbled, taken aback by the unfamiliar gesture. She didn't relax in the woman's arms, only patted the woman awkwardly on the back until she released Faye. "You too, Wren."

"This is for you both." Jonathan said, handing Wren an envelope. "I hope it'll tie you girls over for a while."

"I'm sure it'll be enough."

"Conner," Martha said to the teen inside. "Come say goodbye to our guests."

Grudgingly, the teen came out and stood before the two girls. "It was nice to meet you." He said, with little emotion, especially to Wren. "I hope you have a safe trip."

"Thanks," Faye said, with the makings of a blush creeping on her face. "We'll try. And it was great t' meetcha, too."

"Goodbye." Wren said, turning and taking her friend by the arm to lead her away from drooling over the older boy. "Thank you for all you've done for us."

"Oh Wren," Martha said, coming over, and like she'd done to Faye, the woman reached over and gave Wren a large hug. When the woman released her, she reached down and shook her hand. "I hope you find your way soon, where ever it leads you." When the woman released her hand, Wren felt the weight of a note left within it. "You two stay safe. Bye now."

"Goodbye."

The two turned and walked down the road. About halfway, Wren opened the note Martha had given her. Upon reading it, her eyes widened slightly and she pocketed it hastily.

"What's that?" Faye said, catching sight of the piece of paper.

"Just a thank you note from Martha," Wren said quickly.

"Oh, okay." Faye shrugged it off and continued to walk down the street with her friend.

Once in Smallville, they were able to catch a ride with another farmer who lived thirty or so miles in the direction they were headed, after that they found some tracks that would take them to Lincoln and hopped aboard a freighter. On the train, Faye worked on a new project, either for herself, Wren or a piece she hoped to sell. What Wren could tell about it was that it was red and very little. With that in mind, the younger girl partly hoped that it wasn't for her.

While Faye made her adjustments, Wren, however, was caught up in her own thoughts. Her mind was centered mostly on the events of the last few days. She fingered the note Martha had given her. There she read the words written, over and over to herself:

_It's never too late._

Isn't it? She looked back on the conversation she had shared with the elderly couple on her first night and her thoughts reflexively went to her master.

Wren wondered what he was doing right now. If he was looking for her. If he was worried about her. If he even realized she was still missing.

Her thoughts didn't seemed to be able to stay on one subject for too long. Somehow, her thoughts of her master lead her to think of her newfound friend and Faye's indelicate outlook. And indelicate outlook lead her to recall Lobo's own brash audacity.

She squirmed in her seat, wishing with all her might that she hadn't gone there. She could still feel the crush of helplessness while he had his _filthy_ hands on her. Her hand came up and pressed against her mouth, trying to wipe the memory from her lips. Her eyes shot over to Faye, wondering if she ought to talk about it with her.

The teen looked back when she felt a gaze on her and smiled up at the younger girl carelessly.

Wren looked away quickly.

_No. _

No she didn't want Faye to know that. She didn't want anyone to know that. Such a disgusting thing would die with Wren if she had anything to say about it.

She vowed on God above, if there was a God above, that if she ever saw Lobo again, she would tear out his eyes and feed them back to him.

* * *

Slade walked around the town, having discarded his normal eye patch for the moment and replaced it with a glass eye and movie makeup. He hesitated first with asking anyone he was looking for his apprentice, but decided then to ask a bit with the farmers.

A few of them shook their heads, not recognizing whom he was talking about. His luck changed when an older man overheard him talking and approached to interject his thoughts. Did you ask for someone called Wren?"

Luck at last.

"Yes that's right."

"Little girl? Yey feet high, black hair and blue eyes?"

"Yes that sounds like her."

"Yeah, she and a friend of hers stayed with us a few nights." The man told Slade.

"Where is she now?"

"Left some time ago." The man said. A worried expression crossed Slade's face as his stomach dropped to his feet. The older man continued. "I'm sorry sir, but are you a relative by any chance?"

"Yes. I'm her father…er… adopted father."

"I thought so." The man held his hand out for an introduction shake and Slade took it. "Jonathan Kent."

_Damn it!_ Slade cursed inwardly while his face remained relatively calm. "Grant Steele."

Perhaps Superman hadn't told his parents of his ally's missing child. It didn't seem like the man was overly concerned or suspicious of Slade. Even if he had, civilians were off limits. It was his own code of conduct that Slade lived by. The warzone was for war, he wouldn't drag bystanders into his battlefield.

"And you're looking for Wren Steele? She spoke about you. Or at least, we assume it's you she was talking about. We were a little under the impression that you were dead. Of course, she never did say anything of the sort."

_Dead?_ That definitely caught Slade off guard. _Wren, what on earth is going through your head?_

He would need to have a long chat with her once he finally tracked her down.

"What was she doing at your home?"

"She was looking for work. Her friend had fallen ill and they needed a place to stay while she was getting better. They stayed on our farm for a few days till she got better."

"When did they leave?"

"About a day ago. They headed into town and that's the last I saw of them."

So they had a day's head start. That wasn't bad. Slade could catch up to them and get to the bottom of all this fairly quickly.

"Mr. Kent," He stressed his voice, making it sound like a concerned parent, "it's very important that I find her as soon as possible. Did she tell you at all where she was headed?"

"Actually, she never did. She seemed very private." Mr. Kent said, much to Slade's disappointment. "Mr. Steele, now I don't mean to pry into your business, but why do you think she ran away?"

Slade didn't answer right away. "To be honest, I really haven't the slightest idea. Things seemed to be just fine. She asked me if she could run away for a day. I thought that just meant she wanted a day to herself to do as she pleased and then she would be back by evening, but she never did. So I went to look for her and, long story short, tracked her here."

Jonathan had a blank look, as if measuring his story with something Wren had said herself. Finally he spoke with his own concern, "I'm not sure what motivated her to run away. You don't seem like someone who would mistreat a child, but I think you should talk to her. It sounds like there are a lot of things that need explaining by both of you."

With those final words the man turned and walked back to his truck and got in. Before he drove away, he rolled down the window to say a few final words. "I hope you find her soon. And go easy on her when you do."

"I'll try my best."

And with that the truck disappeared down the road. Slade took the opposite direction and got in the car he was currently renting.

When he did find Wren, he wanted to be as understanding as he could muster, but if Wren defied him out of whatever rebellion she was going through, he couldn't promise he'd be so understanding. One way or another, Wren was coming back with him, and it was her decision to make it easy or hard.

* * *

When Faye spoke in conversation, her voice was a like a raven's caw as she spat back phrases tangled in slang and grammatical errors, but when she read the words of a touching novel, her voice flowed gracefully out like that of a singing nightingale. The drastic change felt unnatural to Wren but she listened quietly on the pile of straw the two had turned into a makeshift bed that night. Faye's words carried over the roar of the train wheels like a little boat on the turning sea.

She read from a book they had gotten for a dollar at a secondhand store. It was worn and old but the story inside was delightful and heartwarming. Wren found she was more captured by the story than she'd ever been in her life.

It was about a girl who had been cursed from birth to be obedient, by a foolish fairy. Every order that was given, she had to fulfill it to the letter. Wren found herself despairing and laughing along with the character's fights and triumphs.

Faye read on, her voice becoming something like honey as the words flowed.

"_I hadn't loved him for as long, perhaps, but now I loved him equally well, or better. I loved his laugh, his handwriting, his steady gaze, his honorableness, his freckles, his appreciation of my jokes, his hands, his determination that I should know the worst of him. And, most of all, shameful though it might be, I loved his love for me._"

"She cannot marry him." Wren said abruptly. "It would just be too dangerous for him to be near her. If someone found out about the curse, he would be in constant danger of her."

"I guess we'll find out…" Faye announced closing the book softly, "…tomorrow."

Wren looked up with a raised eyebrow and a frown. "I cannot wait till tomorrow." With that, she took the book and opened it up to where they'd left off.

Faye yawned, tired and wanting to get to sleep as soon as it was available. "Wren…"

The younger girl read over the words Faye had spoken a few seconds before, murmuring them to herself. "And most of all, shameful though it may be, I loved his love for me." Her gaze softened as she thought those words over in her mind. A soft smile grew on her face. "I like that."

Wren read for fifteen more minutes before she at last put the book down and turned out the light, allowing sleep to come to her.

* * *

Faye turned when she suddenly heard soft crying coming from Wren. Concerned, she came closer and knelt near the little ten year old as her small arms reached up to wipe away the fountain of tears streaming from her eyes.

"Shh…" Faye said, touching her head gently. "It's alright, Wren."

"He took me away!" She sobbed, still somewhat inside the terrifying dream.

"Who took ya' away?"

"Him!" She choked, without really explaining. "He took me away!" Faye sat by her, stroking her hair with comfort.

"Shh. No one'll take ya away now."

"He will!" She sobbed harder, terror building up in her. "He will find me… somehow. I do not want to go back there. I do not want to be heartless. I do not want to hurt…"

Faye lied next to her, holding her close like she used to do when he little sister was scared. The full moon shone above them, following the train like a guardian angel, watching over the two children, silently and loyally. The rhythm of the knocking cars on the tracks was steady and swift… almost like a melody. Without really thinking about it, she began to sing the lullaby that always worked on her sister when Lulu couldn't fall back to sleep.

_You with the sad eyes  
Don't be discouraged  
Oh I realize  
It's hard to take courage  
In a world full of people  
You can lose sight of it all  
And the darkness inside you  
Can make you feel so small_

But I see your true colors  
Shining through  
I see your true colors  
And that's why I love you  
So don't be afraid to let them show  
Your true colors  
True colors are beautiful,  
Like a rainbow

Show me a smile then,  
Don't be unhappy, can't remember  
When I last saw you laughing  
If this world makes you crazy  
And you've taken all you can bear  
You call me up  
Because you know I'll be there

And I'll see your true colors  
Shining through  
I see your true colors  
And that's why I love you  
So don't be afraid to let them show  
Your true colors  
True colors are beautiful,  
Like a rainbow

(When I last saw you laughing)  
If this world makes you crazy  
And you've taken all you can bear  
You call me up  
Because you know I'll be there

And I'll see your true colors  
Shining through  
I see your true colors  
And that's why I love you  
So don't be afraid to let them show

Your true colors  
True colors  
True colors  
Shining through

I see your true colors  
And that's why I love you  
So don't be afraid to let them show  
Your true colors  
True colors are beautiful,  
Like a rainbow

Wren must've fallen asleep before she'd reached the end. Her heart slowed to a calming point and she no longer cried those big wet tears. Faye watched the land move by as the train kept on with its steady pace. She allowed a peace to enter her. Though wars raged, crime flourished, and plots were concocted outside the boxcar, Faye didn't worry about any of that.

For the moment they were both safe and sound.

* * *

Miles away a small boy sat at a desk, working effortlessly on a game set piece while his old radio sang the words of a slow Cyndi Lauper song. He worked patiently, taking his time to create every detail to perfection. At last, he polished off the final touches to the wooden piece.

"And… DONE!" He announced proudly.

He blew off the remaining dust particles and stood it up with the rest of its dark wooden chess members. The lion king was the final piece to his board game. He stood by his peacock queen, the perfect image of royalty and power. His entire demeanor spoke of supremacy and nobility. Strangely though, the piece was the most vulnerable in the game. The moment this one was lost, the fight wass over and their side was vanquished for good. Nothing rose without the king.

He stared at the newly finished chess set and his gaze shifted to his dark empty cabin. No living creature was awake at the moment but himself. None but the owls, and they were normally very unsociable creatures.

He looked back to his game.

Yes… a newly finished chess set… but no one to play it with.

* * *

**Yes. The hard chapter is finished. And yes there will be one more OC next chapter and that was a small glimpse of him just now. And yes, he is kida really important. **

**Oh... and Yay for summer! From here on out, the chapters should start coming in more frequently. I'll try to update again this week. Next chapter is all finished at least but I'm gunna wait a few days to update it. I wanna give you guys some time to digest this chapter before I give you another helping.**

**Thanks so much for all your wonderful support and reviews. If you guys have time to read this it would be really great if you could leave an encouraging word. You've no idea how much I totally love them. And I lover you too! :)**


	12. Chapter 11 Weekend at Finney's

**Chapter 12  
Weekend at Finney's**

They walked through the mud and the wilderness with aching feet and pounding hearts. When the two had woken up early that morning, they discovered that the train had stopped before they'd reached their destination. What was worse was that the conductor was inside their boxcar yelling at them. He wasn't too thrilled about stowaways in his car that was for sure. He'd even threatened to call social services on them, but they had made a break for the door before he could catch their arms.

So now here they were, in the dead middle of freaking nowhere in some no-named forest trying to find the nearest gas station available with very little luck.

Along the way, they'd both stepped into a mud pit that went well passed the top of their heads. They were thankful that they'd at least had enough sense to hold their bags up so that the contents didn't get ruined inside. At first Fay had feared quicksand but they were relieved to find they could swim to the edge easily. To add to their worries of being lost and being already incredibly hungry, they were now filthy.

"I have decided to despise this forest with my whole being." Wren muttered, studying her muddy clothes.

"I know how you feel." Faye got up and began walking once again with Wren in tow. They walked on, feeling the mud drying to their cloths and making it uncomfortable to move. To make things even worse than they already were, it was incredibly hot. The two were exhausted by noon and when they couldn't walk any further they collapsed by a brown hill of dying grass.

"I can't walk anymore! I'm tired and I'm hungry and I'm dirty and I wanna take a bath." Faye cried dropping to the ground. Wren followed her and they both leaned back against the course mound.

They leapt in the air and screamed with surprise as the mound suddenly began to move. It swerved around to face them and the two were looking into the ugly face of a giant wild hog. It was probably the biggest pig either of them had ever seen in their lives. Its head swerved back and forth as it roared a high terrifying note.

"EEK!" Faye screamed, grabbing Wren's hand to turn and run as fast as they could.

"Maybe we should try to ward it off." Wren suggested as it chased after them.

"Are ya' out of yo mind, girl?" Faye yelled, quickly swerving behind a tree to avoid its huge tusks. "You wanna fight THAT THING!"

"If we are able to somehow frighten it, it will go away and leave us alone."

Faye glanced quickly behind them to see the thing gaining speed. "I don't think there's much we can do t' chicken it out."

They skidded to a stop when the forest vanished suddenly to show a towering wall of rock blocking their way and caging them in a valley with the furry monster. It was too steep and too smooth to climb, but their hands clawed up the rock, hoping at some measure that there would be a foothold that they would at least grip and hoist themselves up on. Their backs pressed to the wall as the boar came charging at them. Wren looked at Faye and saw the terror in her eyes. She would not let anything happen to the teen.

Wren sprinted forward at the beast. She jumped and ran up the side of the pig's long nose, stepping in its eye as she did a handspring over its back. It squealed in fury and confusion. Its head turned round about to see where its quarry had gone.

"Over here, Ugly!" Wren said behind it. It rushed at her, yelling out angry roars and spitting sickening chunks of saliva. Wren dodged to the side in a cartwheel and its head slammed into the rock behind her. She felt a smirk creep on her face as it tried to figure out what had just happened. "Is that the really best you can do?"

It rushed at her again, as though her words made it more furious than before. She sidestepped it easily. Faye watched, transfixed for a moment. It was like watching a bullfight.

Wren continued to mock it. "Why do you not try using your head for something other than a blunt object, Piggy?"

Again and again it rushed at her but each time she dodged easily here and there. Suddenly, she misplaced her stepping and tripped. She had gotten so cocky while she was taunting it, that she hadn't been paying attention and had miscalculated something in the land.

The boar's tusks were inches from her face when a new person came out of nowhere. He swung from a branch and landed in the small space separating Wren from instant death. At the sight of him, the boar slid to a halt. From his back, Wren could tell it was a skinny boy that couldn't have possibly been much older than her. He blew a sharp note in the air on what Wren recognized as a harmonica. The boar tried to find another way that would bring it to Wren but the boy stepped in its path each time, continuing to play more notes on his instrument. To her it looked as if the boy was communicating to the animal through his music.

It was the oddest thing Wren had ever seen. The boar honestly had no idea what to do the longer the boy played. He kept playing until the boar at last calmed to a degree where it no longer felt a desire to run Wren in with its giant tusks. When at last the beast was completely pacified, the boy ended his song and reached up to pet its long snout.

He turned to face Wren and she took a moment to study his complexion. She estimated his age to be ten or eleven at the most. He was of average height for his age, thin, with freckles, and brown hair His skin was tanned somewhat from the intense heat and his feet were bare and dirty. He wore a short-sleeved green shirt and ripped denim shorts. His harmonica was tied around his neck with string, and seemed to wear it as if it were an odd kind of amulet. Overall, he had a very woodland disposition.

The one thing that caught her attention above all else though, were his eyes. Strangely enough, she couldn't tell what color his eyes were. One minute they seemed to be blue and the next they might have changed to green. But that wasn't really what held her attention either. When their eyes met, there was the faintest moment of hesitation, as if a spark suddenly shot straight through her at the sight of him, shooting warmth straight to her toes.

He looked at her but seemed to stop for a moment as though surprised by something, and Wren was uncertain if it was because he had felt something similar. Then he blushed and spoke clearly in English, "Oh… sorry `bout that, you guys just scared her is all."

"_We_ scared _HER_?" Faye cried indignantly. Then she frowned. "Who is 'her'?"

The boy gestured to the boar that nuzzled him affectionately with her long giant snout. "This is Drenna—a giant boar."

"She was not very boring to me." Wren said getting to her feet.

The boy looked confused then corrected his mistake. "No, I mean, she's a wild hog."

"Do they normally get that big?" Wren said observing her unnatural size.

"On some occasions they can get bigger."

"Bigger?!" Faye cried looking outraged at the thought of something bigger than that thing. "Are you shittin' me, dawg?"

The boy looked surprised by her etiquette. "No I'm not. And I'm not a dog."

"Hell, shorty, now wha'd ya do t' make it back off?"

"I calmed her down of course."

"At's not what I mean, boy! I mean you calmed it down with 'at freaky music. Are you magic or sumtin?"

He looked nervous and a little startled. "I just did what anyone would do."

"With yo mad harmonica skills?" she demanded. "I ain't neva heard them tones before. You a vodo witch doctor or sumtin?"

"Of course not!" He looked appalled. "I'm blessed, those people are cursed."

"Hey, shorty, I ain't judgin'. I mean if ya say yo blessed I respect 'at, and if when ya admit yo really a witch doctor I respect 'at too."

The boy look a little confused. Wren spoke, adjusting his attention to her. "I am Wren by the way. And this is…"

Faye cut in before Wren could finish. "The name's Faye, Shorty." She held out her and shook his roughly. "Faye Ella Ray."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Finney… or Finnegan. Finnegan James Wake."

"Like the book."

"I guess."

The boar, Drenna, nuzzled him impatiently. "And like I said before, this is Drenna. Sorry she attacked you guys. She's been a little moody lately, what with getting ready to give birth and all."

"Well ain't 'at wonder-freakin-ful!" Faye said throwing out her arms and smiling sarcastically. "Now there will be more giant piggies to attack defenseless girls. Congratulations Dren!"

Finney looked surprised yet again. He brought his harmonica back to his lips and addressed Drenna in that same odd musical language. The hog seemed to respond by nodding then turning slowly away. The boar turned and went back to wherever it was she lived.

"Just a curious question, but what state are we in?"

"Well you just sorta passed the border between Arkansas. You're in Mississippi now." Finney turned back to the girls and studied their dirty clothes. "You guys could probably use a place to clean up. There's a gas station twelve miles away but my place is closer if you'd like to go there."

"Ah… we'd like t' go t' yo place, thank you very much." Faye said quickly. "Not tryin' t' impose but we've sorta been walkin' all day and stuff and we got up today at kinda a bad start."

"Sure. Follow me." He led them easily through the forest for about half a mile. Wren noted how the land seemed to get more beautiful and woodland the more they walked. The trees thickened and changed from the tall burly trees to become more curvy and delicate looking with Spanish moss dangling from their branches.

Before long, they came to an old fashioned cabin, that looked only one room from the size of it, but it looked cozy and welcoming. Wisteria vines clung to the east side of the building and everything looked so bright and vivid with wild flowers and willows. There was a large vegetable garden out front and dozens of birdfeeders hung from every available branch in the willow tree by the house. They could hear their songs and saw them flitting from branch to branch as the children approached. Wren had never seen such a peaceful place.

"This is where ya'll live?" Faye said gazing up at the very beautiful building.

"Yeah, this is my home." He led them up a stone walkway. A turtle slowly crossed to the other side and Wren couldn't help but stop a moment to watch its progress.

"It's so… old lookin'." Faye said as Finney opened the door for the two girls.

"But nice." Wren added, hoping that didn't sound offensive. He shrugged as if it wasn't all that much to get excited about, yet a look of pried showed in his smile. They stepped through and looked around the building.

Everything was incredibly simple. The furnishings were all old fashioned but still surprisingly intact. Off to the left was a bed built into the wall. Books and other things lined shelves all around the building. There was an old kitchen at the right with a stone fireplace and a marble sink. Right above the fireplace hung a cast iron skillet and a Dutch oven. There was a copper teapot suspended on a hook over the dead ashes inside the fireplace and wooden utensils hung in a line on hooks beside it. A small wooden table was pushed next to them both. Bread, cheese, herbs, and fruit sat together on top along with several empty jars and a few tools such as a mortar and pestle.

At the sight of the food, both Faye and Wren's stomachs gave a large growl.

Wren ignored hers for the moment as she took a minute to study the surroundings further. Everything was made for only one person. There was only one bench, one chair, one desk, one bed. It felt lonely to her somehow. "You live here all alone?"

Finney looked at them. "Not really, I mean the animals keep me company here so that's okay." He turned to the table and got down the skillet. "There's no hot water here unless I boil some." He told them. "But the river's nice and warm at this time of day if you guys want to wash off with a swim. I can get some food going for you while you're taking care of that."

Faye looked disappointed that there wouldn't be a hot shower waiting for them after all, but she shrugged. "Thanks, Shorty. 'At would be great."

She turned and went down by the river. Finney looked irritated by the nickname she used for him. "It's _Finney_."

Wren smiled a little. She felt she needed to say something for her friend's behavior. "You will have to excuse her. She is a little… eccentric."

"I know." He said getting down what looked like a tinderbox from a cupboard. "I don't get people guests very often, so this is a little new for me."

Wren nodded. "Um…thank you very much for helping us. Things were getting to be a little miserable for us out there."

"You guys sure managed to get yourselves lost." He knelt and lit the fire. "I'm surprised how you managed to get so far from the roads. Not even hikers take the direction you were going in. Too many wild animals this way."

"We were kicked off of a freight train and were running rather fast to avoid the Railroad Patrol."

Finney looked up. "Well I guess that explains it."

Faye came bursting back in suddenly, annoyed that Wren had left her alone. "Yo, Girl. Ya comin', or what?"

Wren turned and followed her down to a gentle side of the river where it appeared Finney liked to use this spot daily, for there was a bar of soap on a flat rock and a sheet hanging over a long branch to provide privacy.

_Privacy from what?_ Wren thought. _He's out here in the middle of nowhere. He has all the privacy in the world out here._

The two didn't bother with undressing but leapt in together, happy to wash the mud and dirt from their clothes, hair, and skin. They played a bit, Faye taking the liberty to splash Wren in the face and she returned the favor. When they were done, they dressed in the extra pair of clothes from their bags. Faye was suspicious that Finney would be behind a tree while they were doing that and insisted that they take turns while the other one kept a look out for him or others.

Wren wasn't too worried about it. From what she could tell from him (which thinking about it, really wasn't a whole lot), but Finney didn't seem like he would be so randy compared to other boys she had the unfortunate pleasure to encounter. He seemed… like a gentleman. She wasn't really sure but she could just sense something calming about him. Something that told her they could trust him.

_**Is that not what you thought about Slade, too, though**_**? **A side of her said to herself as she was pulling her shirt over her head.

_Well yes_, she responded silently. _And I can still trust Master—uh Slade, that is. Can't I?_

_**Would you have run away if you could trust him?**_

_That is not what I meant. I just longed for some freedom and he was not going to give it to me. Or at least, not the kind that I want._

_**He let you have a day to yourself, did he not?**_

_Yes… one day. And then I would have to go back to being hollow… to being a robot._

_**You did not mind it much before.**_

_I did not know what I was missing before._

_**What on earth were you missing back there? You were not constantly scrounging up money for food, you were not trudging endlessly through the wilderness, you were not being attacked by ugly giant monsters and you did not have to bathe in cold rivers. You had three square meals a day, a roof over your head, and a teacher you could look up to. What more did you need?**_

_Life_, she answered simply. And that was the end of that conversation.

They headed back to the mill and when they walked in, there was a steaming plate of food for each of them.

"I hope you like vegetarian, 'cause that's all I really have, unless you want to try my famous mealworm casserole." He spooned himself a large heap of something Wren mistook to be noodles at first. Upon further speculation, she saw the findings of what appeared to be maggots.

Faye looked like she had suddenly lost her appetite. "Say what?"

Finney continued with a big smile. "It's a really good source of protein."

"Ya must be crazy, kid. Yo eatin bugs!"

Wren noted the nice smell coming from his plate. She didn't want to be rude so she pushed her plate near the pan. "May I try some, perhaps?"

Faye's mouth dropped to the table. She looked at Wren as if she had slugs coming out of her nose. Finney gladly spooned up a big helping for her. Wren hesitated a moment to eye it uncertainly. Before she could change her mind she popped it in her mouth and…

_YUUUM! _

It was good and full of flavor and a plain wonderful delight. Almost as good as mustard.

She happily gobbled up what was on her plate as Faye stared at her like she just discovered her best friend was actually a robotic duplicate for a white Michael Jackson.

Wren swallowed what was in her mouth and held her plate out for more. Finney spooned her up what was left in the pan and even after that she still wished for a third helping, yet she politely settled for some bread, fruit, and cheese.

"Ah…" Faye announced leaning back in her seat when they had eaten their fill. "At was nice. Thanks, shorty."

"It's Finney." The boy said, getting irritated by her insistent nick names. "It's getting pretty late, and there's not a road in sight for another twelve miles. Do you guys want to stay the night?"

"Yes please." Wren said immediately. "It has been a long time since we were able to sleep in real beds."

He looked a little guilty for some reason. "Well there isn't much for extra beds, but you guys can share mine and I'll bunk on the floor, if you want."

Faye looked indignant. "Yeah we want."

Wren glared at her for a moment. Then she turned back to Finney, smiling sweetly. "Well then, thank you very much. That would be appreciated, though we hate to deprive you of your bed."

"It's no trouble." Finney answered, getting up and taking the dishes to the sink. "I'm happy to have some normal people to talk to and all. Besides, you guys look like you could use a decent night's sleep."

"Ya can say 'at again." Faye said handing him her dish. "We've been sleeping mostly on hard wood floors and dirt for pretty much our whole trip. So thanks a lot, Shorty."

"_Finney_," Finney corrected yet again.

"Thank you very much for your hospitality." Wren said, getting up and helping him with the dishes.

When they were done, Finney wiped his hands and grabbed a bucket by the door. "I have some things I have to take care of. If you want, you can read some of my books while you wait. Other than reading, there's really nothing else you can do besides chores around here."

"Thanks, we'll try that." Faye said.

Finney closed the door behind them and the two were left alone. Faye walked over to one of the selves and studied the selections. "Not one for updated items." She said taking out a hardcover with a red binding. Wren could see the title even from where she was seated; The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. "These are all pretty old. This one must be at least fifty years." Despite that, Faye took it from the shelf and began to read. Wren looked a little torn.

She wasn't quite sure if she felt like reading right now. Somehow, she felt the need to keep her hands busy. She looked towards the door.

"I believe I will see if Finney requires any assistance with his chores." She scooted out from the table and left through the door. Wren followed the stone path till she spotted Finney leaning over with the bucket, heavy with the weight of oranges, mangos and other fruit.

His back was towards her and he seemed to have been playing his harmonica again. From the looks of it, it was to someone. Distantly, she wondered who it could be since he said he didn't get many visitors. As she neared, she saw a young doe facing him, unafraid as though he were a friend she visited and chatted with often. The doe seemed to respond to the notes and tunes from the boy as if they were understandable to her.

_So that's it, _Wren realized as she watched the two of them. That's how Finney was able to stop the boar from attacking them. Through his harmonica he could communicate with animals.

Wren wasn't as surprised about the ability as she probably should have been. She'd met meta humans before. This was really no surprise, since she had had her suspicions from the start. But there was something else besides that. Wren had felt something inside Finney; a peace that seemed to radiate right off of him. She hadn't really noticed till he had left the room and that peace seemed to leave with him as well.

She felt it again now that she was within sight of him.

A twig snapped under her and both the doe and Finney turned to look at the intruder. The doe sped off instantly, spooked by the new unfamiliar presence. Wren and Finney's eyes met and she walked towards him. He looked guarded and a little exposed, as though he had not wanted her to see what he'd done.

"I'm sorry for sneaking up on you." Wren answered to him. "I did not mean to spy and interrupt your… conversation."

"I… uh… that is." He looked very wary, as well as frightened. Nervously he fingered his copper instrument. Wren could almost feel how scared he was. So he didn't like people knowing what he could do. That was understandable.

She smiled, trying to look comforting. "It is alright. I understand you probably did not intend for me to see that." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "I will not tell anyone of your ability, if you do not wish me to."

Finney looked at her. His eyes narrowed as if trying to see whether she was lying. He could find no sign of a bluff in her face. He nodded. "Please don't. It makes me feel… uncomfortable."

"You have my word. And just to show you I mean what I say, I will show you a secret in return." She did not know why she was so trusting of him. They had known each other for little over three hours. Was it the fact that he had saved them? Was it the fact that he had took them in. Was it that fact that somehow he possessed some sort of calming aura? She wasn't sure if it were merely one of those facts or all of them combined. Whatever the reason, she let overflowing happiness wash over her, making her light and free.

She sensed his surprise as she began to smoothly ascend into the air. She looked down, noticing how far she had risen. Fifteen feet. She had a new record. She let the feeling slowly subside so she could sink back to the ground. Finney was staring at her with openmouthed wonder.

"You're a… you're a… meta as well?"

She nodded. "Yes, but since I have agreed not to tell anyone of your secret, I must ask that you keep mine intimate as well."

He nodded fiercely. "Yes of course. I mean no, I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you very much."

Finney looked back at the house as though in thought for a moment. "Is Faye a…"

"No. Not as far as I am aware of. She is normal, as far as average human capabilities that is."

"Oh." He shuffled his feet as an uncomfortable silence surrounded them.

"I came out here to see if I could assist you with your chores."

"Yes, if you want I guess."

She followed him for about half a mile before he stopped at a lovely little pond to cross a bridge. He took a seat in the middle of it and began slicing up the fruit with a knife.

"What are we doing here?" Wren asked.

"Just wait." He tossed a piece of mango into the river where it floated a little before something gold swam towards it from behind a water lily. Wren stared as what she thought was at first living gold. A koi fish, she realized. Then more appeared. They were all dazzlingly beautiful.

The first one nibbled a bit on the piece of mango. Finney tossed in another and more surrounded it.

Wren watched the fish as thy all managed to get a piece to eat. They were all so very graceful. The sight of them was spellbinding.

"Do you want to pet one?"

Wren stared at him. "Pet one? A fish?"

"Yeah. I do it all the time." He took her hand and led her to the edge of the pond. He paused only to roll his pant legs up and carefully waded in to where the school was mostly gathered. Wren noticed the care he took with every move he made; it seemed almost graceful in a way.

He dipped his hands in the water till one of the koi, a bright white one with black spots, swam into them. He whispered to it as he closed the distance and stroked its side gently. He looked up and gestured for Wren to join him. She took her shoes off by the bed and got in after him, trying to mimic the same care he had taken. She stood facing him and mirrored his stance. Gently, he moved the fish over so that it was positioned inside Wren's hands now. And all the while, Wren was incredibly aware of the almost tangible peace that surrounded them.

She stroked it as Finney had done and was surprised by the almost silky texture of the scales. The fish adapted to her touch instantly.

"Wow!" Wren whispered, completely captivated. She lifted her hands out of the water and it swam away from her.

Finney straitened, watching the fish leave to join the others. "That one was one of my favorites." He told her. "I call her Eclipse, because of the white ring on her forehead that looks a little like the moon blocking out the sun."

"It is a fitting name." Wren answered. They stood very still and the koi swam around their legs, becoming accustomed to their presence, as though they were no more than harmless statues.

Wren shuddered a bit when a large black one tickled her ankle.

"Well," Finney declared starting towards the edge of the pond. "That's all the time I have for the koi today. I've still got a few more things to do before the sun goes down. Still want to help me?"

Wren nodded as she accompanied Finney back to the cabin. They stopped several times to drop pieces of fruit by holes which she guessed belonged to various underground animals. None seemed to want to show themselves with Finney's unknown visitor standing nearby, but she didn't appear to be offended.

When they reached the old cabin, the sun was set completely. Finney stopped to collect some firewood and Wren assisted him.

"You know there's this old story that I like." Finney said as they walked together back to the cabin.

"Once very long ago, a boy was stolen from heaven and cast down into hell. He was put into a most horrible prison and put through the most despicable of tortures. Then one day he saw something in his prison; a spider, crawling up a thread of silk. The boy looked at the creature and saw how nimbly it scaled out of his prison. It was then that he discovered the way he would escape. Spider silk lined his whole cell, but the threads were too fragile for the boy to climb out with. So he watched the spider. He watched how graceful and nimble it was. He watched it every day and every moment that he could. He watched it for so long that he began to unconsciously imitate it. Then one day, he reached his hand out and took hold of the silk. He climbed with the same grace and agility as the spider. And on the thread of a spider's web he climbed his way out of hell. But he didn't go back to the heaven he used to know. For no one from that heaven had come for him when he was stolen. The angels he looked up to had not come to rescue him. He had to rescue himself. So he did not return to them but went far away where no living soul could find him again and he lived out his years alone, but safe."

Wren looked at him queerly. "Forgive me, but what was the point of that tale?"

"I'm not really sure." The boy admitted. "I guess it really didn't have a point."

They went inside as darkness waned around the cabin. Faye was still sitting in the spot Wren had left her. Her head was bowed to the side and her mouth was wide open as a snore rocked through her. Apparently Robinson Crusoe wasn't very exciting for her. When the door closed with a soft bang, her head snapped up and she looked at the two, partly dazed.

"Yo back. Good!" She shook the book at Finney. "Shorty, yo readin' material sucks. If yo intention was t' put me t' sleep then yo've succeeded."

"…I'm sorry?" He said partly confused. He seemed somewhat insulted by her tone. "If you're confused, those books are meant for a more educated audience anyways. Maybe you would prefer an Archie Comic."

"Yo darn right I would… wait." Faye held up a hand while she ran over what he had just said. "Did ya just suggest that I'm stupid?"

"Of course not, but the big words probably confuse lots of people with similar brain capacities."

"Oh… kay?"

"It is dark," Wren interrupted. "Do you have a deck of cards? Perhaps we could play a game before bedtime."

Finney smiled. "Yeah, sure. I mean I play Solitaire occasionally, but I don't really get many chances to play with other people."

Faye shrugged, getting out of her chair and going to the "Fine, I guess. But I'm dealing."

Finney grabbed the cards and sat at the end of the table that was cleared. He put the deck in front of Faye and she flipped them readily. Her talents with dealing were certainly impressive, as well as with card games in general. She seemed to have a knack for it, almost like a secret power she never told them about.

"It appears that games are not my forte. Or at least with cards that is." Wren stated as she lost her fifth game I a row. "I never knew how compatible you were at these, Faye."

"Yeah… well… goes with the territory." She announced doing an impressive throw with the deck. "I used t' gamble a lot back in the good ol' days. People stopped letting me play when I kept winning and such. Thought I was cheatin' or somethin'."

"Were you—are you?"

"Baby," Faye announce flipping the cards over her head smoothly, "I don't have t' reduce myself t' petty double-dealin' shenanigans… I'm just this good."

"Well modesty certainly isn't an issue with you." Finney muttered.

"Never is."

They played six more games, making a total of fifteen games together. Faye won nine of those, Finney four, and Wren two.

Finney looked out at the darkened window and headed towards a chest by the built in bed. Wren watched him pull out some blankets and head towards the couch.

"The bed has more room than it looks, so you two are welcomed to it, if you don't mind sharing."

"Not at all." Faye said moving towards it. "Sure beats train cars if ya know what I mean." Faye ran to the bed and launched herself on the blankets making herself nice and comfortable.

Wren went a little red by her behavior. She turned to Finney, rubbing her neck sheepishly. "Thank you very much for this."

"Hey, I don't get guests like you very often, so it's nothing, really."

"Well it is certainly appreciated. So thank you."

"Hey!" Faye yelled from her position on the bed. She was just finishing removing her sneakers. "Are ya two going to go to bed anytime soon or are ya just thinkin' a yappin' all night?"

"Sorry." They said together. Wren went to the bed while Finney set up his own sleeping area on the floor. When they were all snuggled into their beds, Finney blew out the lamp and sleep followed each of them shortly after.

* * *

"Is that bacon?" Faye snapped quickly up when the smell and sound of sizzling greeted her the next morning. Faye wasted no time in climbing over Wren and hurrying quickly to the kitchen area. Wren, having been woken up abruptly when she felt a body climbing over her, sat up in a daze. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, trying to remove the crusts at the edges.

Normally Wren and Faye were too busy balling up and reserving the body heat they shared when they rode on the insides of chilly train cars to be given the real option in moving around all that much. But for the first time in over three weeks since she had actually been given the opportunity to sleep in a real bed, Wren actually had a rather bad night. All night long Faye seemed to kick Wren so hard it was as if she were trying out for soccer. So all night Wren dreamed she was being hit and pushed and run over by bicycles.

It did little to improve her mood when Faye actually awoke her by climbing roughly over her dozing form just to get to the breakfast table first. For the first time ever, she actually felt an urge to tell her friend off for once, yet her words faltered when she saw Finney in the kitchen, cooking something that smelled absolutely delicious.

"UGH!" Faye said as she looked into the pan that he was cooking the so called food. "What is wrong with you?"

Wren moved closer, peering into the pan to see what she was talking about. "Grasshoppers?"

"What is with you and the bugs, Shorty?"

"It's the only animal I can stand to eat. And you shouldn't judge something you've never tried before. Many countries around the world view insects as delicacies."

"Ya crazy. Don't ya got like some eggs or toast?

"Penny lets me take all the unfertilized eggs." Finney announced, pointing to a basket filled with brownish chicken eggs. "I'll fry them up after I'm done cooking these."

"That smells quite good." Wren said coming over and looking into the pan. The insects didn't look as disgusting as Faye reacted towards them and Wren was already fairly hungry. "I think I will have some."

"What is wrong with the two of ya?"

"Faye," Wren began as Finney dished up a plate for her, "you were the one always saying we should try new things. And I feel we should always accept food when it is available. We do not always know when we will eat again."

"I'm on a diet." Faye announced stubbornly, sitting at the table and helping herself to some fruit.

"You are thinner than a broomstick, Faye. If you abstain anymore I fear there will soon be no weight left for you to lose."

Faye didn't respond, but continued nibbling on a mango.

"Fine," Finney said spooning both bugs and eggs on his own plate. "More for us if you're going to be that way."

"Shorty, it is neva a bad thing if someone eats all the bugs for ya."

Finney took a seat at the head of the table with his own plate of breakfast. The two others ate while Finney suddenly frowned and fixed them with a curious look. "Umm… so I guess you guys are leaving pretty soon."

"Yeah," Faye responded without looking up. "We've got to find the railroad tracks. We're train hopping to the circus."

Finney stared. "The circus huh? Well that'll be interesting . I've read novels about the circus but never seen one up close."

"Maybe… you could accompany us." Wren suggested.

Faye cast her an angry glower. "Yeah, sorry but I'm afraid there really isn't any room in this two lady partnership for a male sidekick."

"I am certain we can make room for one more, Faye." Wren tried.

Finney held up his hand. "Well thanks but no thanks. I've got a pretty good thing going on here. The animals are great here, there's plenty to eat, it's safe, and nobody bothers me… most of the time."

"Are you certain?" Wren said, wishing he would reconsider and that Faye would be more open-minded to another companion. From what she knew about him, she rather liked Finney.

"Yeah, pretty sure." Finney bit into some fruit and took his time chewing it. Then a thought came into his mind. "Hey, do you really need to go to the circus? You could stay here, there's plenty of room."

Wren opened her mouth to respond but Faye quickly answered for them. "Gee as fun as it sounds eatin' bugs and bathin' in rivers and all, I think I'm just not up for somethin' that exciting. 'Sides, we have the goal t' make it t' show biz and that's what we're doin'… right?"

Wren looked at Faye and then looked and Finney. "Um… yes. That is our initial goal."

"So thanks for the invite but I think we'll hafta turn ya down, Shorty."

Finney sighed, giving up on correcting Faye on what to call him. "That's too bad. I guess you guys are leaving pretty soon."

"Right after breakfast if we can make it." Faye announced.

"But, I am sure there is no hurry." Wren interjected.

"There is if we want t' make our train. There's one scheduled for this evenin', and if the nearest road is really twelve miles away, we need t' git going."

"I suppose so…" Wren agreed at last. Finney shared a small disappointed look with her.

There was a long note of silence while Finney and Wren nibbled on their food sadly. Faye looked from one to the other. At last she sighed. "Fine. We'll stay one more night."

"Yay!" Finney and Wren both said happily.

"This is great." Finney announced, standing up to wash his plate.

Wren got up too. "I have been meaning to ask you about that box on your shelf; the checkered one with the carving of the sun and moon?"

"You like that?"

"I wanted to ask you about it. It is quite beautiful."

"What… you mean this thing?" Faye asked bringing down the box and putting it on the table.

Wren sat next to her "Is it a family heirloom?"

"No. I made it." Finney said.

Wren stared at him and studied the intricate details of the box.

"You shittin' me." Faye said with a more shocked expression on her face. "This is trippin', kid. You got some mad skills."

Finney allowed himself a look of pride. "Thanks. I worked pretty hard on it. Do you want to see the pieces?" He opened the lid and set the chess set up as he had done when he finished it.

The details were breathtaking. Each piece was a humanoid animal, one side clad in black armor with blue and green markings and the other side white with red and grey markings. The kings were stately lions with robust manes and heavy armor. The queens were peacock ladies with long flowing gowns and trains made from their feathers. Honorable eagles made up the bishops with long robes while they clung to their holy books with folded wings. Of course the knights were horses bearing shining shields and swords with gems in the hilts. The rooks were cobra snakes winding around tall poles, their mouths wide open in frozen hisses. And finally, in the place of pawns, were short tortoises crouched with their arms crossed towards their belts and clinging to broadswords threateningly.

Such eye for detail was unlike anything Wren or Faye had ever seen up close. And the paint was done so precisely, it would have been mistaken for master work.

"This is so beautiful, Finney. Did you really do all this on your own?"

"Yes." He nodded. "Do you want to play against me?"

Wren shuffled her feet uncertainly. "Well, I am not very good."

"I am." Faye said cutting in on her and setting up her white pieces. "I love chess."

"Really? That's kind of surprising." Finney said as he set up the black side.

"Why's that?"

"Well you just seem like a checkers sort of person."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." Finney said defensively.

Faye decided to shrug it off. Wren sat and watched them play, following their pieces around the board. Faye was surprisingly very good, but Finney always seemed to be one step ahead of her. After thirty minutes around the field, Finney finally won.

It seemed that among eccentric, Faye was also a bit of a sore loser. She got up after her king had been conquered and went out the door to sulk somewhere.

"Wow. Bit of a…" he stopped in the middle of his sentence upon the look on Wren face. "Okay, never mind then.

They played against each other and Wren lost. Finney seemed unbeatable. Yet it seemed there might have been more going on than his skill in the game. If only she knew what it was, exactly.

The remainder of the day went by without complaint as they all took the time to play games, cook, and read. Wren and Finney seemed to get along swimmingly. Faye… was harder to please, but she stuck it out for her friend. In the morning they shared some breakfast with Finney and said their goodbyes.

"It was very nice to meet you, Finney." Wren said, fingering her camera. "Is it permissible if I take your photograph?"

Finney blinked and smiled. "Sure." Wren stood by him holding up her camera and smiling as she stretched her arm out to take the photo, pausing only to snake her arm around Faye's shoulders to draw her in as well. "Everybody say katana!"

"Katana!"

Click!

"One more!" Wren said, and when she had taken the second picture she released her new friends to observe her photography. She smiled at the results and handed Finney one of the copies. "Here. To remember us by."

"Thanks. And here." He handed her a jar of fresh honey. "To remember me by."

"Thank you greatly." She announced with a beaming smile.

"Are you done kissing your boyfriend now, Chickadee? We gotta skedaddle if we want to catch our ride on time."

Wren and Finney blushed at the same time, rubbing their necks and taking an awkward step back. "I hope to see you again." Wren said, hurrying her goodbyes.

"Likewise." Finney announced waving as they began to leave. "Bye then."

"Goodbye."

"Chou."

Finney watched them go till they had disappeared from sight. He looked down at the photograph Wren had given him and smiled. He was happy she gave him such a keepsake. He knew exactly where he would put it.

* * *

**Introducing… Finnegan James Wake everyone! He's important so don't forget about him. God I just love this kid so much. He's so cute.**


	13. Chapter 12 Three is a Crowd

**Not much to say in this chapter, other than the usual "I don't own Deathstroke the Terminator, or Teen Titans or blah, blah, blah." Like you even need me to tell you that. You're smart so after twelve chapters of the same repeated phrase it gets kinda old. **

**Oh wait: Just wanted to let you all know that I renamed Chapter 11 from "Animal Talk and Human Walk" to just simply "Weekend at Finney's" because that sounded better. **

**Let's just get to the story already. **

* * *

**Chapter 12  
Three is a Crowd**

Wilderness was never a bother to Slade. Not ever. As a hunter himself, he was always ready for a challenge. New landscape. Harder prey. Constant weather changes. It never got old for him.

On any other day, this would be fine, maybe even relaxing—well… his type of relaxing. He honestly hadn't been expecting to track his apprentice through this type of terrain. He'd been following Wren's trail from the train tracks she'd jumped on since Smallville. He'd hacked into the railroad schedules and discovered that the train they had hopped had been late to its destination by about twenty minutes.

The reason for that was because it had stopped sometime in the middle of the wilderness for repairs. There was also a tiny problem with railroad patrol. Something about a couple of runaways.

Well Slade suspected that could only mean his Wren and her friend.

He found the place they had left off and followed the trail into the wilderness. It was at least two days old, but in this heat of Mississippi, it was still good to follow.

* * *

The lamp flickered softly, illuminating the small wood counter, which was now providing as a workbench. Normally, there were wood shavings covering the majority of the surface, yet it had been cleared and swept for a different kind of procedure. At the moment, Finney sat hunched over his radio with every tool he had. This constant operation was getting old and by now, it wouldn't surprise him if he managed to fix the thing blindfolded.

This time though, he wasn't exactly sure what could have been wrong with it, so maybe the blindfold wouldn't be a good idea after all.

It was an old red transistor wireless, which was small enough to fit in a knapsack. The radio itself was at least thirty years old, but was only in need of repair about once every other month and most of the time it was only because of a loose wire or it just needed adjusting with the fuse. The only frequency he could get on it was AM radio, but that was okay. He preferred the oldies to the new stuff they had these days anyways.

He had been in the middle of the evening show when the thing decided to die on him right in the middle of the good part of Zorro.

He made a few adjustments and when he was sure it would work again he flicked it on. The sound of his favorite radio host greeted him at once. Unfortunately it was to report that the show was over.

"Awe man!" Finney said, realizing he would have to wait till the next evening to find out what had happened. It was late and he needed to get to bed.

As he crawled under the covers, a new scent alerted him. The scent was coming off his pillow, but it wasn't bad. Sort of like the smell of a flowerbed after a storm. He realized then that it was the same smell that had come from Wren. He decided then that liked her smell and pressed his face deeper into the pillow, breathing deep. Already he missed her. Two days spent together and he immediately liked her.

Part of him regretted not going with the two when she had offered, but he had a life here that he couldn't just abandon. He couldn't just leave after all the hard work he had put into this place. All the sweat and time he'd shed to restore this cabin from the ruins he had found it in. Yet even with that thought, it didn't keep him from regretting.

His memory still recalled the spark that had shot through him at the sight of her.

What was that?

He had never felt anything like that before. Not even when he had met… _her_.

For a small moment, Finney was allowed to remember the warmth of a spring afternoon, the scent of a clean stream, the taste of chocolate cake, and the face of a child. Her face… Serra Ann…

He pushed the thought away, almost as immediately as it had surfaced. Those thoughts always brought out hope in him, and there was nothing wrong with that, but it always left a trail of regret and sorrow in their wake, and he didn't have the heart to lose to tears tonight. Instead he focused the pinnacle of his energy on thinking about Wren. His thoughts passed into dreams as he recalled the soft curvature of her face, her blinding blue eyes, her short raven hair, little eyebrows and the sweet bend of her lip when she smiled at him.

Moments after he had fallen into the deep corners of sleep, a soft tapping brought him out of the good dream he was having about the girl. He sat up, still somewhat asleep and looked into the window. The neighborhood owl was pecking at the glass. On most occasions, this animal was too wrapped in his own duties as "Official Evening Forest Patrol." to stop by and chat with the boy. Translated to English, the owl's name was Moon.

Finney blinked once, figuring this was just some new dream again, and curled back under the covers. But the owl was insistent.

"Fine," Finney moaned, unable to stand anymore of the annoying tapping. "What?" He asked after he opened the window. Moon looked at him questionably at the sound of the human word and Finney reached for his harmonica. He blew a soft question to the owl and Moon responded to the understandable tune.

"Friend, I don't often speak with you, but when I do, it is always important." Moon said in a soft hooting language. "There's an intruder."

"Is it another lost traveler?"

"Not this time. He is a hunter, but what I could gather from his scent he is not hunting any deer or boar tonight. He's hunting human."

Finney's eyes widened. "Where is he heading?"

"He is near. Can you not smell him?"

Finney breathed, taking in the scent of a complete stranger. The scent was a mixture of an expensive aftershave and cologne. But the real scent of the man reminded Finney strongly of some kind of addicting but dangerous venom.

He gasped at the potency of the scent. Judging by its strength the hunter must have been very close. The sound of footsteps right out his door reached him. There was no time to run. Finney shooed the bird away and curled under his covers, feigning sleep. His sharp ears heard the latch lift and the intruder walk in quietly. Finney marveled at how he managed to open the door without it creaking as it normally did.

He closed his eyes and relaxed, remaining quiet and calm. It was hard to do so as the scent of the hunter reached him more effectively now that he was in the cabin. Finney lied still, listening for what the man would do next. He consciously remembered his harmonica was still in his hand. If needed, he could call for help from the nesting birds in the trees surrounding the house.

For the moment, he breathed through his nose, trying to predict what the stranger was going to do, whether his intentions were to attack or to rob. If it was the latter of the two, he was in for a real disappointment; there was pretty much nothing in the whole cabin worth stealing. Everything was unquestionably primitive for today's world.

He waited, listening for his footsteps. They were almost nonexistent so Finney used his sense of smell to distinguish his position; Over at the shelves, probably looking through his reading material, then in the kitchen. He was looking for something, that much Finney could tell; but what was it exactly? He listened closely to the soft undetectable footfalls. Now the intruder was right at the edge of the bed. Time for the emergency plan!

Finney sat up instantly, throwing his covers at the intruder, taking the man by surprise with his haste, and blew a high note in his harmonica.

Immediately, the caws, coos, and chirps of the birds from the neighboring trees roared to life. Dozens upon dozens of birds flew in through his window and attacked the intruder. His cry of surprise answered instantly as he swatted the savage feathered monsters.

The minute the window was cleared of feathered creatures, Finney crawled through, landing outside on his bare feet. He sprinted towards the forest without pausing. About twenty yards in, he heard the door slam as the intruder pursued him.

Finney felt for certain he wouldn't be able to catch him that easily. For fun, Finney raced daily with deer herds, and more often than not, the boy won. His imitation of their sprint had been mastered by him to perfection; he could leap and bound and sprint almost better than any other beast. Yet his pursuer never gave in. Finney's sharp ears could hear him keeping up with his speed almost languidly. He ran for several more yards, before it dawned on him that his attacker was likely to catch him any minute if he didn't come up with a plan B. An idea quickly formed in his brain. He blew several more notes into his harmonica and his call was answered by the doe, Clover, at the end of the glade. He explained the situation to her with more notes and she quickly understood his plan.

She agreed and he skidded to a stop, hiding under a bush while Clover continued to run. He waited and in no time, the pursuer had run by, thinking that his prey was still ahead of him.

When his footsteps had faded, Finney got up at last and doubled back to his cabin. The door was swinging loosely on a single hinge, but he ran past it without another thought. He grabbed a sack and began stuffing things into it with hardly a second thought. A few clothes, his pocket knife, the radio, his game set, and his tinderbox. He went to the kitchen and started gathering up some traveling food: a loaf of bread, a jar of jam, fresh honey, some cheese, and bit of dried fruit.

He paused when his sharp ears detected a snap from the forest. Judging from the distance of the sound, he suspected it was probably twenty yards away. The smell of venom filled his nose the next minute. Without thinking, he dodged towards the fireplace, lifting the grate where a tunnel was hidden under.

He had been afraid the day would come when a bounty hunter or mercenary would come for him. It was a possibility that had haunted him for years, but a possibility he was prepared for.

It was just large enough for someone his size to squeeze inside. When he was through, he started to move the grate back into place when he stopped at the sound of the footsteps on the wood floor.

He had moved it only halfway into place to see what the intruder would do. He saw his feet moving around the room, searching for the boy. Finney's heart sped dangerously. When the man realized that the boy wasn't there to be seen, he grabbed one of the wooden sculptures and chucked it furiously at a wall, where is smashed to pieces.

Finney decided it was time to leave and ducked into the tunnel. With the help of a family of gofers, he had dug this tunnel in case of emergencies like this one. It was about three feet wide and four feet high, just tall enough for him to run through if he ducked his head. It was a complex series of tunnels, winding along for a good deal over one football field. When you had as much time as Finney you had a lot of time to spare on these sort of things. The tunnel came to an end and he moved another stone block to find himself at the koi pond.

Out in the open once more he chose a direction and began running. He would wait for three days before returning home. That should have given him enough time for the intruder to leave his house in vain and Finney could go back to his normal…

"What is that?" Finney halted, testing the air with his nose. "Smoke? But—," he gasped and turned back towards his cabin. High flames and clouds of grey smoke blotted out the silver moon. "No…"

The sight made him stop and stare in horror at the home he had worked so hard to build. His entire life was up in smoke.

* * *

Slade wouldn't call this endeavor an entire waste. True, his one lead had escaped him, but at least he knew Wren had come through here. The photograph he had found of Wren, her dark friend, and now the boy was proof enough of that. Still, he would have preferred questioning the boy, beforehand, to find out which way she had gone.

He was already in a foul mood, but finding evidence that his apprentice had been here had lifted his spirits somewhat. He hadn't intended to hurt the little runt, or at least not at first. Being attacked by a flock of angry birds, though, had immediately changed his mind about that. Then with being tricking into tracking a stupid doe while the boy doubled back to pack his things, had really infuriated him.

If the boy wanted to play dirty, fine! In retaliation, Slade would burn the building down. Perhaps that would be a lesson not to mess with those far above him.

* * *

Finney trudged wearily through the forest. He felt alone, despite the numerous calls of different animals, some of which he knew closely. He felt a smidgen of jealousy enter his gut as he spotted three birds cross his path and chase after one another. They had friends, family, and futures. It was so easy for them to rebuild their lives after they lost something. All they needed was a tree and boom! But him… he was alone. His cabin and home were gone. The life he had worked so hard to build for himself had been destroyed in an instant.

He had stumbled upon that place right after his life had fallen apart for the second time. Though it was in disrepair and the roof had long since caved in, he had been able to build it up from its ashes, and transformed it into a home. It had been a haven for him; a place where he could feel safe away from people and their destruction. A place he had built in memory of… _her_.

_Damn them all!_ He thought wiping away water that gathered at his eyes. Why couldn't they just leave him alone already? He didn't ask for much. Just a small piece of earth where he could build himself a life of his own. Was that honestly so bad? What did it matter to them if he decided to live on his own with animals? They couldn't go through life without having to destroy everything he worked so hard to build?

He stopped and sat on a rock, deciding on what his next move would be when suddenly, a scent caught his attention.

Flowers in a storm, he realized. Wren had come this way. Wren _and_ Faye that is. He could smell the heavy strawberry shampoo in her hair as well as the strange electric, metallic sort of scent he had gotten from her.

Maybe he wouldn't mind joining the circus with them. Seeing the country might actually be good for him, and since he didn't really have a home to go back to, why not?

He could be the animal tamer of their performance.

"Yeah," he announced, following their scents. "I think I'll do that."

* * *

"Good morning!" Faye said when Wren awoke from her uncomfortable night in the corner of the boxcar. She suddenly wished she was back at Finney's in a soft bed with plenty to eat. What she wouldn't have given for some of his mealworm casserole.

"Yum…" she said, still partly asleep.

"Yum is right, Girl." Faye said shaking her awake.

Wren snapped the rest of the way up and wiped the drool from her lip.

"After two days of having nuttin t' eat but bugs, I'm ready for some real din-din. Whada ya say t' pancakes?"

"We cannot afford pancakes." Wren told her, standing up and peering into their diminishing provisions. "We only have ten dollars and I believe we need to use it to obtain more supplies. Or cover expenses to host another lemonade stand."

"I gotta better idea than lemonade." Faye said. "We're gunna host our first ever live feature show."

Wren stared at her. "What?"

* * *

"Come one, come all! Come be the first to witness the amazing show everyone is talking about!" Faye cried to the crowds of people as they walked by them on the boardwalk. Wren stood off to the side, wearing the reversible blue dress Faye had sewn for her. She held three knives in her hand and a spark of determination in her eye while Faye introduced her. "Watch as the Beautiful Blue Bird amazes you with her eagle eye as she pierces the bull's-eye every time."

Wren waved at the claps she received from the few people who had stopped to watch the show.

She turned to the bull's-eye Faye had painted fairly clumsily one a pure white fence. She still thought about the conversation they had shared about it an hour ago.

"Um… are you sure we are permitted to daub this fence with red?" Wren asked nervously, after they had nabbed a bucket of paint from some workers, who had finished coating a wooden statue towards the entrance of the amusement park nearby.

"Oh yeah. I mean gangstas draw graffiti all the time around here."

"And that is often met with disapproval and fines from the city council."

"Don't be such a sourpuss, Chickadee. It's not like they won't be able to fix it later on. And who knows, they might actually prefer it this way."

She watched her trace a circle, letting the red drip and slid towards the ground. Wren pondered a thought for a moment. "It is really very curious."

Faye looked at her. "Huh?"

"You don't feel guilty about changing a natural setting or "borrowing" belongings that are not yours and without asking, too, but you won't dare even consider the thought of stealing money." Wren was asking this more out of curiosity and her voice held that. "Is money somehow more sacred compared to objects?"

Faye stood, frowning as she thought her question over carefully. "I guess it's just a matter of principle. I bend the rules t' get ahead without crossin' lines that'll haunt me forever. I just suppose I've unofficially given myself a code of honor. I'll do what I have t' t' survive, but I'll never ever reduce myself t' a lame-ass robber."

That answer seemed to satisfy her, and Wren got down to change into her only dress in a nearby port-a-potty.

"Perhaps, though, you would prefer to throw knives. You are, honestly, a better target at it than I am."

"Thanks, but if we're to keep this equal, we havta split the work load. I hate t' say it, but you don't exactly raise your voice all too well, kid. And you throw knives awesomely. So I'll just be the announcer and catch the eyes of all the pretty people, and you work your magic like you do."

Now Wren had five, maybe seven people watching her while she studied the bull's-eye. She tossed the knives and each one made direct impact with the middle circle.

The crowed clapped halfheartedly. It seemed anyone these days could hit a target with hardly an effort, and nothing Wren showed them was remotely all that impressive. Wren turned as some change was dumped lazily into the hat they had laid out for tips. She cast a look at Faye and the girl nodded, knowing they needed to step up the performance.

"Alright, Folks if that don't impress you, watch her as she does it… blindfolded!"

Wren tied the bandana Faye had given to her over her eyes and recalled where the target had been pointed. She cast her knives and they all made contact.

A bit louder clapping followed after, but it still seemed somewhat weak. Wren pressed her lips and wondered what could be done to make it seem more exciting. Faye had that same expression.

"Alrighty then, if that isn't exciting enough may I ask someone in the crowd to choose a target for her?"

They looked from one to another. Then a tall woman said, "The Portly Pig's eye on the sign over there."

Wren glanced towards where the woman was pointing and saw the target ten meters away

Faye glanced at her. "Alright, Chickadee. You think you can do that?"

She smiled and nodded, replacing the blindfold over her eyes. Ten seconds later, all three knives were in the eye of wooden pig picture. This earned more clapping from the crowed, this time with far more enthusiasm.

Several more targets were chosen for her, each exceeding one after the other in distance, and Wren hit each of them on the mark. More and more people stopped to watch, marveling at the precision of her skill. Their profits after the day ways acceptable, but it wasn't enough to tide them over for very long. They would have to conserve it for as long as they could.

"Pretty cool." Came a familiar voice.

They looked up to see the grinning face of Finney staring down at them while they counted out their earnings.

Wren's face parted in a smile. "Finney! You are here."

"Yup."

Faye looked irritated to see him. "Whadda ya doin' here, Shorty? You stalkin' us?"

"In a way." He smirked. "I was hoping your invitation was still valid. I'd like to join you two to the circus."

"Sorry, but I already told ya that this train is full. Catch a ride with some otha runaway kids."

"I'm sure we can make room for another, Faye." Wren tried to convince her. "Our party is small. One more traveler won't slow us down."

Faye didn't look convinced, and it was obvious more convincing would be needed.

"I've got an idea." Finney suggested. "You two are trying to get some money right?"

"Yeah… what of it?"

"If I can exceed you in your next round of profits, you let me travel with you."

"And if ya don't?"

"I'll give you all my earnings and never bother you again."

Faye held her chin in thought. "Deal!" They both shook on it and Faye smiled impishly. "The competition starts in half an hour. Get yo things together for the face off. Like it'll do ya any good, though. Cause Shorty, yo going down so hard yo'll be feeling like a rock at the bottom of the ocean after all this is over."

"O—kay then?" Finney turned and walked down the wood to gather his supplies.

"I wonder if he will play his harmonica." Wren said.

"Don't care if he is, don't care if he in't." Faye turned to Wren. "Now, Chickadee, ya gotta really work it out there in this next run. We gotta win this."

"Why?"

"Because we ain't allowing no bug-eatin-girly-boy on our train ride!"

"But he may be able to contribute to our goal. Would one more travelling companion really be so horrible?"

"Yes!"

Wren pouted. Faye was being unreasonable. Finney was a good person and very easy to get along with. Well… easier for her to get along with. Wren liked the idea of another meta traveling with them. Someone she could relate to on being less than normal. And who knows, maybe they would be able to help one another.

As dishonest as it felt, Wren decided to rig the competition. She would purposely loose so Finney would be able to travel with them. Faye would be angry at first, but she'd get over it.

Finney set up his show straight across from them. It appeared he was hosting some sort of animal performance. There was a squirrel now across his shoulders, three mice in his hoodie pocket, a dog, two cats, and six birds now trailing behind him.

"What the hell is this?" Faye said when she caught sight of the parade of animals.

"This is my show. I wanted to present some animal performances and these guys agreed to help me."

"Oh so they agreed, huh?"

"Yes they agreed. I asked them all if they would and they said yes, so long as I give them their share."

"Their share? Oh so yo payin' them? What are they going to do? Buy something with their two bucks?"

"No. I'm going to liquidate their earnings to get them anything they want. Jervis and Tags want cans of tuna, Doll wants something new to chew on, the mice all want peanut butter, the birds want some class A materials to build their nests, and Chess wants almonds. It all works out in its own way."

"That's stupid."

"What? You think humans are the only ones who need new things these days?"

"Well fine." Faye huffed. "Me and Wren will kick ya butt and all yo little animal friends' butts, too!"

"You're welcome to try as hard as you can, Faye!"

"Yeah well we will then!"

Wren glanced at Finney's troupe of little performers. If he proved to be as impressive as they looked, then maybe there would be no need for her to rig the bet.

* * *

**1 HOUR LATER**

"Man," Faye groaned angrily. "Look at all those bystanders. Those _people_ who should be watchin' our performance. But noooooooooooooooo. Not even the googol kid with the ice cream face stopped to watch. Stupid Shorty with his stupid pets! Well who needs 'em. We can get bystanders and tips easy-peasy, right Wren? Wren? Where'd ya go, girl?"

Wren, at the moment, was busy watching in awe at the stupendous mini circus Finney was holding. She clapped along with the rest of the crowd as three of the mice balanced on a pyramid right on the squirrel's back and then flipped off of him.

"You traitor!"

Wren jumped when she heard her friend approach right behind her. She looked and saw the disapproving glare of Faye leering right over her.

"Wren… HOW COULD YOU?"

"Now, Faye, is it really so horrible to allow him to travel with us? I feel you are being unreasonable."

"Unreasonable? Wren, he's weird."

"As am I."

"Yo different. Yo a cool kind of weird. He just… he's so…"

"He is so… what?"

"I can't describe it! He's like a bird without any feathers."

"You make a very interesting argument." Wren said, feeling a great desire to roll her eyes.

Faye pressed her lips in a pout. She turned with defeat and threw her hands angrily in the air. "FINE! He can come along! But I swear, if I catch him Peep Tomin' me even once, I'm kicking his ass so bad, his grandkids will feel it!"

Wren smiled at her friend's consent. She loved the idea of the boy traveling with them. Another meta, just like her. Well maybe not just like her but with powers he hadn't fully realized yet. She felt eager and thrilled.

* * *

**Woohoo! So happy! Finney is here and things will really take off now. I love that kid so much! Now we can get down to the more exciting adventures. **

**Oh crap I just remembered that I've only got next chapter sorta done. Maybe three or four paragraphs. Crud I better get shaking on that. See you all next time. And thank you oh so much for your continued support. And like always: **

**Review! Review! Review! I :heart: your words!**


	14. Chaptter 13 Faye and Finney's Infinite

**Okay so just a not to say;**

**I AM SOOOOOOOO SORRY! I waited for over a month to update this story and there are no excuses. It's summer, for crying out loud, so I should have plenty of time to spare and I didn't dedicate any of my time to getting this chapter done within the time frame I promised. **

**I am a terrible, terrible person!**

**And to make things even worse, this is an unforgivably short chapter that is essentially unimportant on astronomical levels!**

**It's just really a few logs of how the relationship is evolving between the three so far. Not anything super big, unfortunately. But I liked it so much that I decided to post it anyways.**

**As always the only things I own are Faye, Finney, the Wren side of Mar'i's personality, the story and that's about it. Everything else is DC comics.**

* * *

**Chapter 13  
Faye and Finney's Infinite Playlist**

"Oh gob!" Faye complained for the third time that evening. Finney had turned it to his favorite evening program and was currently in the middle of a Sherlock Holmes adventure. Faye was getting irritated from the narrator's boorish tone and voiced her opinion once more that evening. "Can't you change it to anything good?

"Sorry, the radio only gets AM frequencies and this is the evening show I like to listen to."

"Well after this, turn it off okay. I can't stand oldies."

Finney shrugged and agreed. Once the story had ended, he flipped it off and the only sound left was the nocking of the train as it moved passed county lines and land. The three found comfort in the soothing lullaby of the tracks.

Wren listened to the sounds of her two best friends as they fell asleep. As different as they were from the other, they slept in a remarkably similar way. After each tenth or so small breath, they both took a deep sigh. Also, before they had fallen asleep, they seemed to have kicked out with one of their feet as though kicking down the door that separated the dream world from the waking world.

The only real difference was _how_ they slept. Faye twitched and made animalistic sounds like mewing between breaths and Finney snored lightly.

Wren smiled as she turned over on her own pile of hay they had assembled into makeshift beds. She felt so safe between her two best friends.

* * *

**When You were Young  
by The Killers**

**You sit there in your heartache  
Waiting on some beautiful boy to  
To save you from your old ways  
You play forgiveness  
Watch him now, here he comes**

**He doesn't look a thing like Jesus  
But he talks like a gentleman  
Like you imagined when you were young**

**Can we climb this mountain? I don't know  
Higher now than ever before  
I know we can make it if we take it slow  
That's takin' easy, easy now, watch it go**

**We're burning down the highway skyline  
On the back of a hurricane that started turning  
When you were young  
When you were young**

**And sometimes you close your eyes  
And see the place where you used to live  
When you were young**

**They say the Devil's water it ain't so sweet  
You don't have to drink right now  
But you can dip your feet  
Every once in a little while**

**You sit there in your heartache  
Waiting on some beautiful boy to  
To save you from your old ways  
You play forgiveness  
Watch him now, here he come**

**He doesn't look a thing like Jesus  
But he talks like a gentleman  
Like you imagined when you were young  
(Talks like a gentleman)  
(Like you imagined when)  
When you were young**

**I said he doesn't look a thing like Jesus  
He doesn't look a thing like Jesus  
But more than you'll ever know**

* * *

"Alright, Shorty. Here's how things work in Camp Wings." Faye announced the next night while they set up their camp site near a stream.

"I'm sorry but… Camp Wings?" Finney said with his eyebrow raised.

"Yes." Faye said. "I'm Faye. Faye is a kind of fairy, and fairies have wings! And Wren is a bird. And birds have wings. So together… WE'RE CAMP WINGS!"

"…"

The boy was not amused, not even after Faye had fist pumped the air as if declaring some sort of mighty announcement.

"Well I'm Finney. And Finney doesn't have wings."

"We were here before Finney!" Faye yelled angrily.

"You know what, I don't care. Just tell me what the stupid ground rules are, because I want to listen to the radio in peace!"

"Well thank ya for remindin' me about rule number one." Faye announced mischievously, "There is a strict FM only rule here. So any other frequency is forbidden."

"What!? My radio only gets AM!"

"Awe… that's too bad. Guess we can't listen t' it then."

"No, no, no. I will not let you mess up Action Hour for me."

"Sherlock Holmes and Dracula are considered Action Hour t' ya? Have ya seriously never seen a boxing tournament?"

"I have listened to Action Hour every night for the past three years. I will not let you change my routine!"

"You're routine has already been changed when you left yo home and I can't stomach oldies! Or the sound of old people and their banjos."

"What AM station do you listen to?"

"None! Which is why it's not allowed here!"

Wren couldn't take any more of this. "Oh for the love of—is this the way it will be for the remainder of our journey?" She yelled, getting both their attention. "Do you two intend to fight the entire time?" They both shuffled their feet guiltily as she continued. "You know, I would suspect that two mature… children, such as you both, would be a little more civilized towards each other. I mean what is this constant desire to be at one another's throats with you two?" Neither one answered her, unable to come up with anything acceptable. Wren continued with a softer tone. "And what about me. I mean I like and respect you both and I like traveling with you both, but not together. And I cannot be in the middle of your feuds. In fact I am not going to be."

"What?" They said together.

"You heard me." She said, standing to her full height. "If we cannot travel together as a group, then… then perhaps we should travel alone."

"Wren…"

She stooped down and picked up her bag and hoodie. "You two are the best friends I ever had, but… but you are not my friends if you fight. So—so I will leave and go my own way."

"No. No, Wren." Finney said quickly, rushing over and grabbing her arm before she could go. "Look, I'm sorry. You're right. You're absolutely right. I'll be better okay. We both will, and if it means so much to you, we won't fight anymore."

"That would be nice. Do you both agree on that?"

"Yeah." Faye sighed. "I'll be better. And t' prove it, Finney ya can listen to your Adventure Hour. I don't mind."

"Thanks."

"Great!" Wren dropped her bag on the ground and sat down to build the fire, quite happy her threat had worked the way she had intended. Man she was sly! She never suspected she would actually use that lesson on how to bluff. And who would have guessed it would work?

Thank you Master Slade!

* * *

"You both are being uncommonly decent towards each other." Wren said after Faye had offered Finney one of her animal cookies.

Finney and Faye both shared an over enthusiastic smile. "What do you mean?"

"I… am not quite sure." She stared longer at their grinning faces. "But it is somewhat… creepy, as you would probably put it."

"Oh, we're just being civilized, Wren." Faye said with an unnaturally big grin. "Nothin' creepy goin' on here."

Wren's eyes narrowed at them suspiciously. "I do not know what is going on, but I will get to the bottom of it you hear me!"

With those words she stalked off to get the firewood. The moment she was out of earshot the two turned on each other.

"Overplay it much?" Faye said sarcastically.

"Like your one to talk." Finney retorted. "'_We just being civilized?_' I didn't even know you knew a word that big."

Faye clenched her fist threateningly. "Another comment like that and you'll be phrasin' a lot shorter words than the ones I use."

"Oh sure."

* * *

The small town road was silent for an early morning. The trio had stopped somewhere outside of town and were camping it out in an empty house a few blocks over. Wren and Finney were still asleep, but Faye was wide awake, wanting to take the opportunity to enjoy the stillness of a sunrise. She liked to enjoy it not by watching the blinding orb ascend through the sky, but by studying the light increase within through a little town like the one they were in.

She strolled along the sidewalks, peering into the old fashioned shops and watching the store owners switch their closed signs to open one by one along the block. All at once she stopped suddenly in front of a pawn shop. Inside, directly facing her was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

* * *

"You bought a ukulele?"

"Yeah. In't it absolutely beautiful?" Faye announced hugging the dyed blue miniature guitar close to her chest. The two others looked at her curiously, unaffected by her delight.

"How much did it cost?"

She paused, hesitating guiltily. "Well… it might've been a bit over budget."

That didn't sound promising.

"Well how much do we have left over?"

"Enough—look it don't matter 'cause we can make more in no time."

"Do you even know how to play ukulele?" Finney questioned suspiciously.

"Well…"

"You don't know how to play!"

"I'll learn! I mean did ya know how t' play the harmonica when ya first got it?"

"Not exactly but…"

"But you learned, well that's what I'm gunna do. So don't cha get yo panties in a bunch, Shorty. I'll have this down in no time." Just to display her extended knowledge of the instrument already, she strummed a few strings that ended up sounding more like rubber bands stretched across a ruler than much of anything else.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

"What in the world is that supposed to be?" Finney asked while Faye strummed through some notes that he mistook to be the ABC Song at first.

"It's Red Hands by Walk off the Earth. What else did ya think it was?"

"…Oh yeah, now I hear it."

"I cannot identify either way, but it sounds like a song." Wren announced, brushing her teeth by a stream.

"It's been three days since you got that thing. Didn't you buy a manual or something?"

"I prefer to learn on the job. No text book required for this music lady."

"Oh definitely."

"This would be a lot more musical if I got more from ya than sarcasm. I'm just learnin' here so gimme a break for golly sakes."

Finney sighed, hearing the truth of those words.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be mocking your efforts when you're just learning. I wasn't that great at harmonica when I first started, either."

Faye blinked, a bit taken aback that he'd actually apologized so easily. "Well… just make sure you don't do it again. Got it?"

"Yeah."

There was no more argument that day and Faye was left to practice more with her instrument, getting a new confidence now that there was no one to discourage her from learning to her best ability.

* * *

"Okay," Faye said excitedly while she tuned her instrument. "This is the song I've been working on and I want you guys to tell me how it sounds."

The two sat on straw bales and waited while she readied her ukulele. "Now just remember, if you guys don't absolutely love this song then I'm gunna cry a whole lot and be miserable for nine days."

The two exchange glances while she tuned once more and began singing.

_I was living on the road  
Longer than I've told_

_Been living on the streets  
Where people treated me like dirty sheets_

_One day I was digging in the dirt  
And just then a guy hurled on my shirt_

_And when I thought things couldn't get worse  
It was then that an ass stole my purse_

_Not an asshole but a donkey  
But he belonged to an ass so it's the same thing._

"And that's all I got so far." Faye said with a flourish of her strings.

The two friends blinked. Then shared a blank look. Then blinked again, uncertain if of what they ought to tell their friend about her song.

"Wow… Faye that's quite the um…"

"Unique and entertaining melody." Wren finished carefully

"What she said." Finney agreed with rigorous nodding.

"Really? You guys liked it?"

"It was like no song we'd ever heard before!"

"Wow! And you both think so?" Her eyes got big and she looked close to blubbering with glee.

"Words… cannot describe it."

Faye grinned for a moment. Then out of nowhere her grin turned into laughter, and her laughter turned into heavy fits of cackles. "You guys are so full've it!"

They blinked once more, startled by her outburst.

"I _know _that song was pure crap! I wrote it that way on purpose."

They both sputtered, stunned that she would pull such a trick. "Wha—Why would you do that?"

"To see what kinda friends you really were. And ya both are awful!" She announced, pointing from one to the other accusingly. "You lied! TO MY FACE!"

"Well it's just that we didn't want to see you cry. I mean you said you would be upset if we didn't absolutely love it."

Faye scowled. And then as soon as her face had gotten angry it split into a wide grin. "You're right! I did say 'at didn't I. So you guys are all right I guess. Now here's my real song."

"You wrote another?"

"Yeah. I write songs now. 'At's what I do." She positioned her ukulele and tuned it for the real song. "Now listen up because I'm only going to sing this once… in this car… and maybe a few times on the street to get some cash… and to a talent agent if he's giving out record deals." She shut up then and strummed a steady beat, one that reminded them of an old jail blues song.

_Searching up high_  
_Searching down low_  
_Searching like mad_  
_Wherever I go _

_Searching over here_  
_Searching over there_  
_Been searching for something_  
_Everywhere _

_Uh Huh!_

_Been on the road_  
_Longer than I know_  
_Been in search_  
_High and Low _

_Been on my own_  
_Nobody to hold_  
_Been living on the road_  
_So far as I've told_

_Yeah!_

_A life like this_  
_Not fit for a girl_  
_Not fit for children_  
_Born with pearls _

_But I've been living_  
_Like this all life_  
_I'm not fit to raise children_  
_Not fit to be your wife_

_Yeah!_

_This old road_  
_Be growing on me_  
_Nobody to love_  
_Nobody but me _

_The road keeps coming_  
_Far after I'm gone_  
_And even after then_  
_I'll be singing this song_

_Yeah!_

She finished with a flourish like she did with her last song and looked up to see what they thought about it. They were both smiling.

"Wow, Faye, that's actually really good." Finney declared.

"Really?"

"Yes. It is." Wren agreed. "It is quite the upbeat tune."

"Sweeeet!" She sang happily.

* * *

**And that about wraps this chapter up. But I wanna post the next chapter real soon, considering how I heartlessly made you guys wait for over a month for the next installment. It's like whenever I make a promise to update real soon I never do. I'm a horrible, horrible person. **

**You all have permission to review and tell me so.**


	15. Chapter 15 Down in New Orleans Pt 1

**Hey, guess what? I own DC comics! Yeah! That's right! Me! DoodlebugQT! It turns out I hopped into my own villainess costume and stole some secret bullcrap magical device that lets me rearrange the fabrics of reality and make all the world my own, reshaping it to my desires.**

**Oh but wait! The Teen Titans just arrived! And now they're… OH IT'S HORRIBLE! They foiled my brilliant scheme and destroyed the device, returning the universe to its rightful order where all I can do is write fanfiction of my favorite comics and TV shows. **

**Oh well. I guess one person shouldn't have all that power anyways.**

**And now to the story:**

* * *

**Chapter 14  
Down in New Orleans**

**Two years earlier**

"New Orleans?" Wren asked, looking back and forth down the street. It appeared they were cleaning up after a festival of some kind. "Is this… a party?"

"Mardi Gras. We arrived just as it's finishing, unfortunately." Her master said.

She looked up at two men taking down a green, gold, and purple sign. "And the purpose of our venture?"

"We're hunting." He announced.

Wren might have felt something along the lines of annoyance then. They were always hunting; always in pursuit of something, so him to tell her that was somewhat unnecessary. "I suspected as much, sir. But _what_ are we hunting?"

"Crocodile."

She stopped in her tracks, wondering to herself what kind of crocodile would live in a city. It more than likely wasn't a normal one and was quite possibly something entirely different than what he was making it out to seem. He noticed she wasn't walking with him and turned to know what the holdup was.

"Sir, what kind of crocodile is it, exactly?"

"A slippery one." He stated simply before turning again. "That is all you need to know… for now."

Her brow furrowed in thought, but she followed him without another word. It didn't seem like he wanted to talk all that much, so Wren left it at that. When the time came, he would give her more answers, for the moment all she had to do was follow his move.

* * *

**Present day**

_In the southland, There's a city  
Way down on the river  
Where all the women are very pretty  
and all the men deliver_

"What in the world?"

The three travelers looked curiously from the sight they'd stumbled upon the moment the boxcar door had opened. People clad in colorful costumes with green, gold, and purple jewelry to adorn their figures passed by in bright and merry mirth. Music filled the air and the entire street was crowded with dancing people.

_They got music, It's always playing  
Start in the daytime, Go on through the night  
And when you hear that music playing  
Here what I'm saying, make it feel alright._

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto."

"You don't say, Dorothy?" Finney answered with sarcasm.

Wren popped up beside them both, looking from one friend to the other curiously. "I detect your sarcasm but I do not entirely recognize the reference you are implying to. Especially since we passed Kansas over two states ago."

Faye and Finney looked at each other, resisting the urge to roll their eyes at Wren's ignorance.

"Remind us to introduce you to the Wizard of Oz." Faye said, dropping from the car to join the crowd of people. "Hey lady, what's the hubbub about?"

"You mean you don't know? It's Mardi Gras, Sweetie."

"Mardi Gras?"

"I have heard of that!" Wren said jumping down with her friends and clasping her hands together eagerly, excited to know something her friends didn't. "So this must be New Orleans. I visited here once with my master on an errand just as the festivities were ending. Slade explained to me once about the traditions of this holiday. I have long since been curious of this festival."

"You mean he actually taught you something that didn't have anything t' do with killing a man a dozen ways without a weapon?"

"Say what?" Finney announced with wide-eyed shock. His eyes grew to the size of saucers as he glanced from one companion to the next. "You didn't mention anything about that."

It suddenly dawned on Wren that she hadn't disclosed her life prior to meeting Finney and wondered if she necessarily wanted to unveil it to him so soon. Then again she did tell Faye rather suddenly after meeting her. She made a mental note to keep such information on a need-to-know basis only and would ask her friends to keep such input confidential as well.

"It is a long story." Wren announced, blushing slightly with embarrassment of her former life. "One that we should not discuss in public. All though… I do wonder if Voodoo is up and about."

"Voodoo?"

"The person we visited when we were here." Wren explained without detail. She chuckled a little at the memory of the woman and the incredibly awkward evening she only slightly remembered. "It is actually a very interesting tale. She was the first person I really liked. In fact… you probably reminded me a lot of her, which is why I must have liked you so quickly."

"Okay, well tell us after we get some chow then. I'm hungry."

"Tell us when you're _not_ hungry, Faye," Finney said sarcastically, "That's news."

"Yeah, speaking of food I was thinking since you cook all the time, Finney, I'd make something for you."

"Wow really?"

"Yeah, and as it just so happens, I've gotta knuckle sandwich with yo name on it."

"Guys," Wren said, ending the quickly growing fight. "I thought you would try to get along."

"Of course." The two of them said together, breaking up instantly.

Once Wren had her back to them though, they resumed the tough talk.

"Next time, twerp." Faye said threateningly.

"You're on, Fairybutt. Anytime any place."

"Well how bout right here and right now?"

"We can't right here and right now, Wren's in sight. But later when she's doing something that doesn't involve us, then we can kick each other's donkey's."

"It's ass! We'll kick each other's asses."

"Then why did I make this?" Finney asked pulling out a carving of a realistic donkey from his bag.

"You carry around a wooden donkey were ever ya go?"

"No. I made it last night because I was bored. I was going to try and sell it somewhere."

Faye's eyes widened suddenly as she struck an idea. "Hey there are hundreds of people here." She announced, stating the obvious.

"Yeah. No kidding?"

"No I mean this is a prime opportunity t' get some cold hard cash."

"Really? You want to set up a stand here?"

"Why not? It's as good of an opportunity as we'll ever get."

"And what are we selling exactly? My carvings?"

"Why not? I mean, how fast can ya carve these things?"

"I can carve little figurines in just under ten minutes."

"Wow. Seriously?"

"Yeah, but bigger carvings take longer."

"Well okay then, how about fifteen dollars for each carving you make. And you can customize them. Wait how long does it take you to customize?"

"As long as I have a steady target, not long at all."

"Wow! This might actually work. Where's Wren?"

"Over there. I'll get her. You find some place to set the stand up."

"Okay." Faye answered back, bouncing on her toes. "Oh this is exciting."

* * *

**Two years ago**

They checked into a hotel with adjoining rooms and readied for the hunt in their own ways. Slade researched their target while Wren worked through their supplies, organizing what would be required for them when they moved. While they worked, Wren asked more questions concerning their assignment.

"Master, what kind of crocodile would require us to hunt it in a city?"

"One that deceives and adapts."

"So it is definitely not a normal crocodile."

"No."

She paused getting somewhat irritated that he was making her beat around the bush with twenty questions rather than flat out telling her what it was they were after. But his reasons were his own, he wanted her to think, to search, to explore, and he wouldn't always be around to answer her questions when she asked. She needed to know where to find the answers for herself.

If she wasn't empty of emotion, she might have groaned for the lack of input he was giving her. Still, she followed his lead like always.

That night, though, he suited up alone. Wren watched him put on his armor, discouraged in the fact that he was making her stay behind on this one.

"There's a different hunt I'm taking tonight for a client." He said shrugging on his trench coat, which would hide his armor from view of others. He had a duffel bag with him when the time called for him to put on the rest of it. "I need you to stay here for the time being."

"Yes sir." She said, unemotionally.

"Do the homework I've assigned for you and get to bed on time."

"Don't I always." She said with the tiniest bit of resentment.

Slade glanced at her, wondering what her snark was for. "Is there something the matter?"

She looked up at him, allowing her brow to furrow into a frown. She wondered how he would respond to the thoughts running through her just now. The idea that he always seemed to leave her with nothing whenever he went on one of the many "assignments" for those so called clients of his. True, he was always sure to leave her with things and homework to do to keep her mind occupied and from getting bored, but she could tell she needed more than that.

She hated being alone, and at eight years old that was normal for a child. But she somehow knew Slade wouldn't understand. He didn't have any friends, so how on earth could he understand?

"No… nothing is wrong." She answered after a moment.

* * *

**Present day**

"So… you guys came up with this idea yourselves?" Wren inquired seeing the two making impressive effort to work together while they went about setting up a carving stand. They were currently using three barrels and a plank of wood set on top of it as a makeshift stand. A little sign made out of another plank of wood, was hung on the front of it, reading:

**Handmade Carvings  
****Tops and toys - $1  
Figurines - $7  
Animals - $5  
Customized carvings - $15 **

Already a fine selection of handmade goods were laid out for all to see; A little basket of tiny tops, a bear, three birds, a knight, a milk maid with a bucket, accompanied by her dairy cow and calf, and a bumblebee. At the moment he was working on the tree of life with winding whimsical branches. Wren was drawn to the three birds he had made on a whim; a falcon, an owl, and a raven.

Wren seemed to be instinctively drawn to the one of the falcon and an image of a large bird flying over rooftops entered her. She thought a bit more about it and imagined herself flying with it. She envisioned herself on the back of the falcon and a bright bubbly feeling entered her while they zoomed over the rooftops of a dark poetic city.

Her eyes narrowed slightly while she played with the idea a bit more. Was it really an idea or a fantasy?

"Yeah." Faye announced, bringing Wren out of her trance. "Shorty made these little desk tops to get us going." She picked up a little wooden top that was about the width of Wren's thumbnail. "Did ya know it took him five minutes t' make one of these little things? He's like a freaking superhero with 'at knife of his."

Finney blushed slightly, bashful for the praise he was receiving.

"These are very impressive. How much are you selling them for?"

"A buck."

Wren at first thought a dollar was a little cheap, but when she thought it over carefully, she personally wouldn't pay more than that for one of the little tops. They were very good tops, on Finney's part, but still not worth more than a dollar.

"Where did you get the wood?"

"Around." Faye said, neglecting to go into detail. "You know, just here and there and everywhere."

"Okay." Wren said, leaving it at that. "How many have you sold?"

"We just got started. But there were a few people around that bought some stuff."

"Oh." Wren responded, picking up the raven.

"Oh, careful of that." Finney said, pausing his carving to glance up at Wren. She stopped to look at him curiously. "Sorry, I just kind of wanted to paint that one."

"It is very good." Wren stated looking at it a bit more closely. There were intricate runes engraved into the wings and around the beak and eyes, giving it a mystical sort of charm that seemed Wiccan. Wren wondered silently what they might have meant. Looking back to the other ones, she saw that they all had similar looking markings. "If you don't mind me asking, what do these writings mean?"

"I don't know." Finney announced with a shrug. "I just kinda thought they looked nice."

"Oh. Well yes I guess they do look good on it."

"So you made them up?"

"No. They're real. I just don't know what they mean." He put his knife back to his carving and begun his work again. "But if they do mean anything, I like to think they're good signs that insure safety and luck."

"What kind of luck?"

"Whatever luck you make for yourself."

Wren looked back down at the raven and traced over the markings around the wings and beak. Just like her friends, she had no idea what the writings meant, but she liked to think that they were just as Finney had said, and were markings for safety and fortune.

"Hey mom." They all turned to the voice of a teenager, lured to their stand by the beautiful figurines and approached them. "Look at these awesome little carvings." With the possibility of customers, all three of them reverted to salesmen mode, Faye taking the lead.

"Well hi there. See anything ya like? Our handy dandy carver boy could even do a customized figurine for ya if ya want it."

"Really? You can do that?"

After very little convincing, Faye persuaded the teen to stand still while Finney worked his magic to produce a realistic figurine of herself. Before they had started though, Finney had asked the girl a few questions about herself and what she wanted to see in the carving. After five minutes of nothing but talking, the girl stood in the position she wanted. In another fifteen minutes he'd produced a stunning replica, only he had done alterations to it to make her seem more angelic, yet exaggerated the curves around her waist and chest and made her skirt billow to the floor in graceful sweeping arcs.

His work was fast and accurate. When he was done, he blew off the excessed dust and held it up for her to see. The girl looked delighted by the outcome, declaring that he'd captured her precisely how she wanted it to look. Her glee of the outcome attracted more customers whom all wanted a closer look at the new attraction. He was able to do seven more custom designs, before he at last needed to take a break from the whole thing.

"Wow!" Faye cried standing in line at a shawarma stand with her friends. "I can't believe how much money we made already. It's been a great day."

"I know." Finney announced, clearly pleased by the results. "I should do this more often."

"What did you do to earn money from before?" Wren asked, interested in his life on the small farm he had kept.

"I didn't need it a whole lot then. This is the most people I've ever seen in my life."

"This is the most I've seen as well." Wren stated with him.

"So ya both have lived pretty sheltered lives?"

Finney and Wren exchanged glances. "Well… I guess it all depends on what you consider 'sheltered'."

"Well I know Birdie girl here lived shelteredly."

"Shelteredly is not a word, Faye." Wren informed matter-of-factly. They took a moment to order their food before returning to their conversation. "And I lived however was necessary for the terrain we occupied. I have lived many places and needed to adapt to all of them."

"Whoa." Finney said, clearly enthralled by the idea. He took his own shawarma and followed his friends to a table several feet away. "Like where?"

"Well there was Russia for a while. Some countries in Africa. Qurac. Zandia. Europe for a time. Scotland Spain, but mostly Markovia… and there was a time when my master was even stationed off world on another planet. Course I was too little to really remember such a journey, but he sometimes talked about it if I asked. I regret being so little at the time. I'm sure the journey would have been memorable. I think he said once that it was on… Korugar I think."

Faye and Finney looked at her with disbelief. "Wow!" Faye announced with shock. "And here I thought ya didn't get out much. Yo master musta been a big time boss-man deal. Was he a space alien or somethin'?"

Wren shook her head. "No. He is certainly native to Earth."

"Now I feel like _I_ don't get out much." Faye said.

"I must tell you someday of the time I first visited this place with my master, when we spent a week hunting a giant crocodile in the swamps."

"You did what?"

"Wow really?"

"Yes, it was quite an adventure." Her face got distant while she allowed herself to play with the memory of such an excursion she had shared with Slade. "Probably one of the few occasions I actually had fun with my master."

Both her friends were quiet for a moment, letting her think on her memory without interruption.

After a minute Finney spoke again. "So… you grew up with a mentor, huh? Was he like your dad?"

"Well I suppose in a way… actually no." She redeemed. "No he was not. He was more like a… drill sergeant than anything else." She looked at the boy. "What of you? Did you grow up with a mentor?"

"Well no." Finney announced. "I spent most of my life on my own. But there was a guy who taught me how to fish and keep a garden."

"That's nice." Faye stated. "Did he teach you how to carve like a superhero, too?"

"No." His face like Wren's got distant quite suddenly while he remembered the person who had been responsible for a lot of the most valuable teachings he'd ever received. "That was someone else..."

"Say," Faye said after a moment of silence. "Think you can come up with some more genius ideas before we open again."

"Yeah, shouldn't be a problem."

The crowd thickened quite suddenly and rushed by with haste as an explosion of music erupted a block or so away.

"What in the—,"

"Come on kids." A woman with a big feathery hat called in a singsong voice behind them. "The parade's starting. You don't wanna miss this."

They exchanged wide glances to one another before breaking into a run towards all the excitement.

The street was crowded to the point of overflowing. There was hardly anywhere to move for the children and they felt close to the verge of claustrophobia. That was until Faye reached one of the buildings and hoisted herself onto an awning, freeing herself from the suffocating crowd.

"Hey, kiddies." She cried, calling attention from her friends, whom were still trapped within the crowd of taller people. "Up here."

Finney grabbed Wren's hand and led the way to where their friend was waiting for them with an outstretched hand. He grabbed it first and she lifted him up with such surprising strength and ease that it took his breath away for a moment.

"How can you be so strong when you've got muscles the thickness of a spaghetti noodle?"

"Because I'm a super villain in disguise and I tolerate your presence only because you make a good secret identity story for me."

Finney rolled his eyes and reached down to help Wren up into their perch. She grabbed it and he lifted with less ease than Faye had had with him. Wren helped him a bit with her flight, making herself light for the little strength he had.

"Ya'll right?" Faye asked as she tumbled over the side.

She righted herself and grinned at them. "Yes."

"Great View. We should be able to see everything right here."

With that, they all looked in the direction the action was coming. Floats, dancers, costumed characters, and performers all shimmied down the street with great pizzazz. Music filled every inch of the street and even made its way in the children, stirring them up and causing them to move with the flow of it all in their seats of their awning perch. Even Wren, whom had never given a moment of her life to the movement of dance was caught twitching to the beat.

The three laughed as performers dressed in tight sparkling costumes gathered round a shy looking young man and teased him shamelessly. Faye pointed, finding the sight hysterical as the man in glasses turned as red as a cherry when one of the ladies actually reached behind him and pinched him on the rear.

"Hey, kids, you need some bling?" A woman sporting dozens of shiny plastic jewelry shouted up to them. She tossed a tangle of colorful strands to them and they all reached out to catch them, tossing them over their own heads.

The parade proceeded with great enjoyment and the children watched it all from their perch up until Faye announced.

"You know, this is some strong A material. I'm surprised this thing hasn't ripped by—," she stopped abruptly when, of course, their seats tore cleanly in two letting the three travelers fall straight through the new gaping hole.

Faye fell to the ground on her rear, Finney was caught by a surprised looking teenaged girl, and Wren stopped her fall by gripping the bars of the awning just in time and swinging herself to land gracefully on her feet.

"What the—! YOU LITTLE HOODLUMS!" The three looked up when the owner of the severed awning was suddenly behind them, looking back from the children and to his property and then back several more times. "Do you know how much that'll cost to replace? Your parents better be around here."

The three paused for a moment to exchange blank looks. Then, as if by some silent exchange, the three righted themselves and were sprinting away into the crowed with the man yelling after them to "Get the hell back there or he'd call the police!"

"Wonder how he'll manage that in this mob." Finney said, with a smirk.

"I wish him luck then!" Wren announced, dodging nimbly over a cart of masks for sale.

* * *

**Two years ago**

"DON'T YOU TWO HAVE ANY BRAINS!?" Yelled the talking grey cartoon squid.

"Squidward, we don't need television." The sponge-man said serenely. "Not as long as we have our *_IMAGINATIONS*._"

"Wow! I never thought of it that way. That is really something—Can I have your television?"

"With imagination I can be anything I want. A pirate! _Arg_! A football player! _Hup_!"

"A starfish!" Announced the sponge man's pink companion.

"Patrick you're already a starfish."

"See, Squidward, it works!"

Wren watched the colors on the screen with mild interest.

Children actually watched these things? These… cartoons? Well… she supposed on some level they were strangely charming. If not for anything that made remotely sense, than for their idiocy.

She should have been working more on the homework Slade had assigned for her, but she had already completed her assigned work within an hour since he left. When that happened, she was instructed to read the following material he had for her. That or she had the option of exercising when she was at the estate, but she wasn't at an estate that gave her access to the gym fight simulations. She was at a hotel, and she was bored out of her mind.

She had first turned on the television with the intent of watching the news, but the channel had been previously set on Nickelodeon, which explained how she ended up watching Spongebob Squarepants, in the first place.

She had never before watched a cartoon, and seeing the impossible way the characters moved, along with the bright and cheerful colors had enticed her to remain on the program. She lied on her stomach with her hands propping her chin up while Spongebob and Patrick played in a suspiciously miraculous box, which erupted with amazing sound effects every time the two used their, quote unquote, "imaginations" (insert hand rainbow and magic sparkles).

Squidward was just in the process of waiting up all night to unveil the secrets of the impossible noises, when a different sound alerted Wren from the kid's show all together.

Acting quickly, she flipped off the TV and opened her book, working an air of innocence as her master stepped through the door.

"Wren, are you still up?"

"Yes, sir."

"Isn't it about your bedtime?"

She looked at the clock on the table. "It is five minutes before my bedtime, sir. You arrived early."

Slade looked at his own watch to confirm the time. "I suppose it is. What are you doing?"

"Reading," She answered innocently, or tried to at least.

His eye narrowed. "Really?"

She nodded, sticking with her bluff.

"The thing about lying, Wren," He strolled over to the remote and picked it up, flipping on the TV to the program it was prior, "is that it is a skill you've yet to master."

Wren's face went red, realizing she was caught red handed.

"Did you finish your homework like I asked?"

"Yes sir." She said, finding her fingers suddenly very interesting. "I only turned it on for a moment. I did not think it would offend my studies if they were already done."

"That's beside the point. I'm not cross that you chose to watch a program that I don't approve of, I'm cross because you lied to me about it."

"Well… technically, sir, I did not lie." She said carefully.

His brow lowered to that thought. "How so?"

"You asked me "What _are_ you doing?" present tense." She informed, carefully avoiding infuriating him. "And what I was _doing_ at the moment _was_ reading. So I did not lie. If you asked "What _were_ you doing" and I had answered with "Reading" _then_ I would have lied. Right?" she glanced up at him, wondering if he would be angry that she had chosen to correct him for his poor word choice.

"I guess I'll have to phrase things more carefully around you then." He flipped the television off and put the remote on the top of the wardrobe. "And I guess on nights I go out I'll just have to assign more work to you."

Wren pouted closing her book. "Or maybe you could simply take me with you."

"What was that?"

"Take me with you next time." She repeated more directly.

Slade crossed the room, turning his back on her, "I told you, Wren. Not until you're older."

She glared and crossed her arms immaturely. "Well it would be far better than sitting here alone waiting for you."

Slade was surprised for a moment that she was speaking to him like such, and turned to look at her. "My work is dangerous, and I can't afford to take baggage with me."

She got angrily to her feet, rising up so she could look him more directly in the eye, but even with the extra height of the bed she still didn't reach his eyelevel. "So I am just baggage to you?"

"On a job, yes, you would be baggage."

"Is it because I am not ready?"

"Mostly, yes. That is why."

"Mostly? So then what are the other reasons?"

Now he was just getting angry. "My reasons are my own, Wren. I don't have to explain myself to you."

Her brow lowered and she actually glared back at him. "No, of course not! I am just supposed to follow your every lead like a child!"

His brow rose with shock at her defiance before lowering again dangerously. He stepped closer to her, bringing his face inches towards her and piecing her with his gaze, till she lowered her eyes. "For the moment you are only a child so I expect nothing but your obedience now and for the rest of your life. That is what you do. Follow my every order and do what you're told. Or I can take everything I've given to you away, Wren. And then where would you be?"

She paused, surprised that he would suggest something like that. "…I do not know, sir." She said at last. Actually she had some idea of where she would be. She had heard stories in the news about orphaned children who were placed in careless foster families and had resulted in severe injuries, neglect, psychological abuse, and even death. When given those possibilities, she was indeed very fortunate. Slade might not have been very nurturing to her need for companionship, but he was fair.

"Be grateful for the life you have, child." He informed, turning at last. "Many are not as fortunate. And you will do as you're told, without complaint… am I right?"

She suddenly found interest in the carpet as her mouth formed to answer him. "Yes master."

"Good. And since you've enough energy to watch cartoons and argue with me, you can do two hundred pushups, right now."

Wren looked between a mix of surprise and dismay by his order. Yet she lowered herself from the bed and started on her punishment, counting off while Slade kept the door open to listen to when she was done.

"On your knuckles, Wren."

She looked up at his as she had already started them on her hands. Yet with his order she sighed and began again, clenching her teeth as she curled them into fists and pressed down on her knuckles.

Slade didn't know what had suddenly brought about this burst of defiance, but decided it may have had something to do with the unfiltered program she'd been watching. He'd have to make sure it did not happen again.

No matter, the pushups would make certain she didn't again try something like that. Though just to be certain, he'd try and leave her some reading material that would motivate her enough to study in her own time; that and block the channels from now on.

He wouldn't tolerate any defiance, no matter how small.

* * *

**Present day**

"Oh how pretty!" Wren cried with glee as fireworks lit the sky. They all sat together on a ten story building roof, eating Creole chicken skewers, mini party cakes, and blackberry sodas as they watched the firework show over the river.

The booms with each gorgeous explosion shook the building, as if wishing the concrete, structures to crumble under their might.

A deep sigh was shared between the three as they enjoyed their moment of solace.

"Today," Faye said looking up at the miraculous sight, "Was a good day."

"I concur." Wren announced.

"Amen." Finney added up. "So… after today, is it over?"

"From what my master told me and what my research led me to believe, Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, which is mostly significant to Catholics referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season, which begins on Ash Wednesday. The day is sometimes referred to as Shrove Tuesday, from the word _shrive_, meaning "confess." Related popular practices are associated with celebrations before the fasting and religious obligations associated with the penitential season of Lent."

"So in other words these people are just totally letting go before their ties and Sunday bests come back on?" Faye asked with interest.

"Something like that I suppose."

"Nice. Nothing like a little pig-out before the gruelin' pain comes back on. Though I gotta say, I'm glad I'm not Catholic."

"Can't really say if I'm glad or not." Finney announced. "Never been to church."

"It ain't all crosses and sunlight, piglet. A ton of it is a lot of bull and crap!"

"You seem to have some experience in it."

"I don't wanna talk about it." Faye said quietly.

The other two exchanged glances, but left it at that. "Very well then."

"Let's just enjoy the fireworks."

* * *

**Two years ago**

The night was silent while Wren lied in bed, trying to find a sleep that wouldn't come. It seemed useless to continue rolling over and over again in bed, so she got up and looked out the large window of her room. The hubbub wasn't as busy tonight as it normally was for a city of this size. With Mardi Gras officially over, the majority of the population were busy nursing their hangovers left over from the festivities.

Wren pondered. She would have liked to seen a festival that rambunctious, if only to experience what it was like.

She looked over to the door that adjoined her room to her master's and wondered if he was asleep yet.

Cautiously, she opened the door as quietly as was possible, and peeked through. The room was silent and dark, yet she distinctly spotted the shape of a sleeping person lied out over the bed. With that, she retreated back through her own room, closing the door with the same care as she'd done with opening it.

A sigh left her and she pondered for a minute more of whether or not she would attempt sleep again, but that seemed useless. She did so want to inspect this city closer but didn't know how long her master slept, if he used the whole evening for sleep, or just part of it.

For as long as she had lived with him, she knew ultimately nothing about his sleeping habits. He seemed to always be awake whenever she was… or wasn't. It was odd to see him look so still for once.

Perhaps though, she could be back before he woke.

Deciding at last, she dressed in some sneakers, jeans, and a jacket and left through the door of the hallway. Before exiting, she messed up the bedding and plumped the blankets with a pillow, feigning the look of a sleeping person underneath.

When outside at last, she breathed the scent of New Orleans' night air. This was the first time since her abduction with Oran Grey that she had wondered a city alone. She chose a direction and walked down it, steering clear of alleyways in case there were muggers lurking within the shadows, eager for simple prey. Despite her youth, she would not be simple prey for anyone, yet she still would rather go without stirring up trouble or alerting her master of this venture by returning with ripped and dirty clothes.

She walked for about seven blocks, taking in the scenes and studying the night life around her.

Suddenly a boom caught her off-guard and she looked up just in time for the rain water to soak her head.

_Oh no!_ She thought dismally, rushing towards a lowered awning before she could be drenched completely. It took a moment for her to realize there was someone else sharing it with her. "Excuse me," she said, turning to see a breathtaking dark woman standing with her. "Is it alright if I share your awning for a moment?"

"Not my awning, honey. But yeah, I don't mind company." She breathed deep on a cigarette and a cloud of smoke blew from her plump cherry lips. Wren turned to the weather, hoping it was short lived. She didn't want to be held up all because of a stupid drizzle.

"So what's your name?" The woman asked with mild interest, attempting a conversation.

"Wren," Wren answered. To be polite she asked about her name as well.

"It's Pricilla." The woman said.

Priscilla… the name was beautiful; a fitting name for someone like her, yet she continued as if she hadn't paused, "But, you can call me Voodoo."

"Voodoo? Is that an alias? Are you a vigilante?"

"No, honey, it's my stage name."

"Oh… so you're a performer."

"In a way." She breathed in her cigarette and puffed out another large cloud.

"What do you do?"

"Dance mostly."

"Dance?"

"Yeah, I work at the club next door." She pointed to the right of them at a blinking neon light, which read 'the Midnight Lounge' in curly lettering with stars surrounding and a quarter moon in the background.

"Oh!" Wren said with surprise. So she was a… mature dancer, as her master would describe. Wren didn't know the details of what her work implied her to do in additional to her dancing.

"Yeah," she sighed, leaning back against the wall with a mix of thought and acceptance. "Not the best career path in the world, but it puts bread on the table."

Wren wasn't sure what she ought to say… or if she wanted to say much of anything. She looked out at the rain, watching it splash to the ground.

"You know… you're out pretty late for someone your age."

"Aren't we all out fairly late? Does age truly matter in the long run when considering the time?" Wren responded with little emotion.

"Touché. Although your age group is more expected to be asleep at this hour."

"I wake and sleep as is needed. And when I cannot sleep, I would rather not waist time lying idle in a bed, or that is what my guardian says at least."

"Must be a busy bee."

"I do not know about a yellow and black flying insect, but he is busy quite often."

She chuckled and blew on her smoke while they waited for the rain to halt. "So are you visiting the city at the moment? Or do you live here?"

"No. We are not native."

"Did you get to see Mardi Gras at least?"

"No… I am afraid not. Though, I wish we could have. It looked quite intriguing. We came here for information."

"What on?"

"That is classified."

"Oh… secret spy stuff then?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"That is classified."

The woman glanced at her, holding her cigarette between her lips while she looked the little girl up and down queerly. "Not much of a talker, are ya kid?"

"I talk when there is something to say. And for the moment there is nothing to say."

Voodoo smiled a little. She liked this little kid, however unemotional she seemed. In a way it was almost charming. She was also somehow familiar. Her eyes and eyebrows caught her attention more than anything else. She thought on it a moment trying to place where she could have recognized her. Then realization struck. Her smiled deepened at the concept of the idea.

"You know, I like you girl. You're awfully different from other kids I've met."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Hey tell you what," She reached down her dress and pulled out a bright purple card that had been nestled somewhere between her breasts. Wren's eyes widened and her eyebrows lifted with surprise and revulsion as the women smoothly withdrew and handed it to Wren to take. "Tomorrow night is my birthday, and my boss is throwing me a big party at the club I work at. You're welcome to attend."

Wren blinked, astounded that what this woman had just handed to her was an invitation; A birthday invitation. Her first invitation to a real birthday party. She looked down at the thick paper, which carried a silver outline of the woman's face, seductively liking on a piece of strawberry cake and the words 'Happy Birthday Voodoo' in big gaudy lettering. Underneath was the specification concerning the date, time and place of the party along with side notes telling attendees to bring their wallets.

"It would mean a lot to me if you came. And you can even bring that pompous Master of yours if you want. After all I'd love to tell him more about the gator he's hunting."

Wren's eyes went wide and she turned quickly to look back at the woman. Yet the moment she had done so, the woman was gone; vanished from sight without a trace or a warning of any kind. It was at that same moment that the rain suddenly stopped altogether and the girl was looking out at a damp yet rain-clear sidewalk.

* * *

**There is more to go with this chapter but it got to be so long that I had to divide it into two parts. Hope you guys don't mind. **

**Oh and just a side note: Voodoo is not an OC but an actual DC superhero, although she might be altered somewhat. Yeah I know I keep doing that to everyone but if the new 52 can screw with every character in the world then why can't I. Did you know Beast Boy's red now? Yeah, now green but red! WHAT THE FRENCH TOAST, AM I RIGHT?**

**But yeah, I want to use as many real DC characters as I possibly can, and avoid creating many OCs if I can help.**


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